A Simple Relationship
by Sceptic62
Summary: Yu Narukami was forced to move away from Inaba at the behest of his parents. There was little he could do about it. Although the bonds with his friends would never break, it was a rough transition. Though when he strikes up a strange friendship with a red-haired girl, it becomes a bit easier.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yay, persona crossover. If you read my other stories, I had to flesh out this idea before I could continue working on them. It was too much fun to write. So I got the idea for this while reading Eyes to the World. It's also a Persona and DxD cross. But, it's a much more serious nature, and doesn't introduce Yu to being a devil immediately, which is where I got the premise from.**

It had been barely a week since Yu came back to the city. It was in a word, surreal. He had gone from an active lifestyle, both socially and physically, to the sedentary style reminiscent of a hikkikomori. Perhaps, the realization that he was no longer in Yaso-Inaba had not yet occurred. He would wake up, completely expecting to be greeted by his Little sis. A smile on her face, and eggs with slightly burnt toast in hand. The first day he had arrived, he had sat around for half an hour before reality struck him. Then he would go to school and the difference only seemed more exaggerated. Because there was no Yosuke to help cheat. There was no Chie with which to discuss cheesey martial arts films. And there was no Yukiko to compare bentos with. As the days went on, it seemingly got worse.

Talking to many of the students in his new school often reminded him of his endearing kouhai. Many were flirty, trying to capture him via cutesy charms and gimmicks, though none would hold a candle to Rise. Others were overtly serious, similar to Naoto, and he would often chuckle at their expense when they were embarrassed by their friends. Though it was hard to find a substitute for Kanji, because Kanji was a once in a lifetime oddity (in a good way), it was difficult not to see the younger man in some of the other students. Often they would bely their tough exteriors through their acts of kindness, much like the bleached blonde. Although, Yu found many similarities, he had to admit, finding someone like Teddie was probably going to be impossible. Afterall, not many could pull off the shamelessness of the shadow turned human so innocently.

Then he would come straight home. In a city as large as Kuoh, it was difficult to find the freelance-esque part time rules he had operated under in Inaba, as regulations were followed with religious zeal in cities. He would enter the house, and his greeting would go unanswered in an empty home as he put his shoes away. That is not to say he was living alone. No, his parents had made good on their promise after a few choice words from his Uncle. This would be the family's last abode, until his parents decided to relocate to a less stressful environment after their working years. It was almost unfair. For them to uproot him when he had finally found his own life, only to continue with this same charade.

He cleared his thoughts of such negative judgement, because it wasn't a truly fair assessment. Even though they were rarely home, they still made the effort to try and be family, which was a far improvement from before. Yu noticed that it was in the little things they did. Often, his mother would leave sweet buns on the kitchen counter for when he woke up, long after she left. He noticed that they had recently become predominantly sweetened black sesame after he mentioned his favorite flavor in passing.

His father, far less subtle, would "accidentally" leave some odd fifteen thousand yen in bills in the family change receptacle every two days. After the wad had begun to spill out of the tin, the man took the whole wad and dropped it on Yu's nightstand. Yu had felt that it was a bit too much of an allowance, but his father simply laughed it off saying that there was no reason to be successful if one could not share such success. Yu accepted the money graciously after that explanation, not having the heart to tell his father that his son was quite literally swimming in yen.

And, the one time they had been home early this week, Yu had offered to cook, and they shared a meal as a family. That night, the hollow feeling that had been eating away at his chest had lessened, and he felt slightly less agonized over his forced transfer. However, none of this changed the fact they were rarely home, and as a whole, it made Yu's sudden return to solitude sting all the more poignant. He chuckled to himself as he finally pulled himself out of his bed, silver hair matted from the grime he accumulated while sleeping. He was spoiled he supposed. Coming home every day to his little cousin's bright disposition, and being there to welcome home the gruff detective that was his Uncle and her father.

Even now, he could smell the perpetual scent of coffee and cigarettes that wafted around the house, and he could hear the constant buzz and chatter of the television.

"Everyday's great at your Junes," he sang to himself quietly, pulling himself into the shower. It would be best to grit his teeth and bare it for now. It wouldn't do for his first call back to be completely void of meaning. He was their leader. If he couldn't move on for his own sake, than he would do it for theirs. He sighed, turning off the faucet, stepping out and reaching for the hung towel. He dried his body before giving a quick run through his hair. He thoroughly dried himself before wrapping the towel around his waist.

He grasped his toothbrush and vigorously began his morning rituals, trying to summon up energy that he could no longer find. He stared at himself in the mirror. It had been a long time since he had gotten time to truly study himself. He lived a very hectic life in Inaba. His skin was now fairly tan, and it was contrasted by his silver, now nearly white bangs. His hair had gotten far messier, and while not near Yosuke's "working mess" as Chie had described, he still needed a trim. A fair amount of scars littered his upper torso as well. Reminders of when he was too slow, or the enemy too strong. Reminders of that horrid world of lies.

He gently traced one that bisected him from collar to hip. His grimace was obvious in the reflection. That was a battle that would be hard to forget. He had gotten it when he pushed himself too hard while trying to rescue Nanako from the misled Namatame. If it weren't for Kanji's quick reactions to pull him back, Yosuke's moderate skill in healing magics, and Naoto pulling through on that massive Mahamaon, he would likely have thrown away his life in his desperation. It reminded him. _They_ reminded him. All of them. The Investigation Team was behind him, and although Yu was their leader, he did not have to go through it alone.

In fact, it was that moment that Yu thought of when he fused one of his most important Persona, Helel. Teddie's tear strewn face had stirred him out of his self destructive thoughts and saved him back then. So, in response he created Helel by fusing Metatron and Arahabaki. As a result, the long scar he had been tracing had also been his last one. In return for their trust, their kindness, Yu himself would "bear" the brunt of the enemy's attacks. The only attacks that could penetrate Helel's immeasurable defense had been those of the Almighty. It certainly had surprised the whole team when Yu had taken a blow meant for Chie directly to the face and came out completely unphased. That didn't mean they let him off easy for scaring them.

He spat out the waste in his mouth, before cleaning his face. He still winced at the pain from when _Rise_ of all people used Megido to teach him a lesson about "stupid bullheadedness". Yu didn't even know that Kouzeon could _learn_ offensive skills, let alone the fact that Rise had managed to master the low-power Almighty spell. He sighed wistfully while shaving. He missed them.

Finished with his bathroom routines, the young man strolled into his closet and pulled out his ensemble for the day. An off-white grey shirt that "complimented his eyes" according to the many girls he had met, and a pair of slacks he had bought on Marie's recommendation. The name crossed his mind again. _Marie_. She was their "hidden member". Almost like Ranger Golden Eagle in Phoenix Featherman R. Though she did not participate in the take down of Adachi, it was her actions that defeated Izanami, and brought about a world without Fog. Realizing that his knuckles had begun to whiten, the young man slowly let out a deep breath to calm himself.

It was a badly kept secret that Yu was going out with the black haired girl. After her disappearance from the final battle, none of the other IT members tried to bring up her involvement. It wasn't until Yu had confronted them about it days later that they confessed. They tried to push her out of mind, to move on as though nothing happened. He, in response, called them out on their delusions. Reminding them that no matter how painful it was, that they had to face the truth. The truth, no matter how ugly, no matter how painful, that hid in their hearts. Marie was gone. If it hadn't been for the timely intervention of Margaret, Yu was not sure how far he would have gone.

"She's still out there. Just resting. It's up to us to find her now." He said to himself while chewing through his breakfast. When they were told this, the entire team had reacted in anger. Yosuke handled it the worst. Afterall, he had known what it was like to have an _unrequited_ and _unresolved_ love die. In his sympathy for Yu, the brown haired teen nearly struck the Velvet Room worker, had Kanji not held him back. Naoto had calmly asked the attendant to leave. Yukiko, Chie, and Rise all fumed, unwilling to speak up for fear of lashing out. Teddie had been the saving grace.

It was unfair to say that the blonde had a low emotional awareness, because Yu honestly thought the young shadow was the most expressive person he had ever met. However, when Teddie had told them that those who resided in the other world didn't die, but simply reform, Yu actually almost hit him. The blue eyed shadow was a lovable idiot on a scale that could not be measured, which was all the singular reason that stayed his hand. The same could not be said for Kanji, who did hit him. Upside the head in fact.

After the boy rubbed away his ensuing headache from the other blonde's abuse, he explained further. Sealing away Izanami into herself would have likely consumed all of Marie's energy. She was most likely resting, and when Marie was done, would appear in this world. Although Teddie had also added that this was mostly speculation on his part, he knew for a fact Shadows and other beings did not die. Yu had left shortly afterwards, after a set of heartfelt goodbyes, at both the request of his parents, and in search of Marie.

Yu shook himself out of his reminiscence, realizing that he had sluggishly moved through the rest of his morning, including his breakfast. He smiled thinly to himself. He didn't even taste it. Stepping out of the kitchen, the young man walked down to the hall closet, pulling out a light black tie and a lapelled jacket.

His school's dress code this year was actually less strict than Yasogami High School's, oddly enough. It certainly required a school uniform, but in the sense that the school simply required clothes within its mandates, not clothes provided by the school itself, besides the jacket and tie. He threw the jacket over himself, and tightened up the black tie denoting his third year.

While he had worn his old schoolwear without either the tie or the buttons, this year was much different. The school president herself, a Sona Shitori, pretty much gave him two options after seeing his appearance. Reprimand or acceptable. He loosened his tie slightly before unbuttoning the first button on his chest. Passable, at least. Yu nodded to himself, walking out the door and locking it behind him.

He padded along the sidewalk, thinking about his new school. He was so lost in thought that he did not notice someone who sidled up next to him. Still completely unaware, the young man stepped onto the bus that routed towards the center of the city, and to his new school, Kuoh Academy. He sighed once again. He stared out the window, at the unfamiliar passerby, and cold steel structures. It was real. This was real. Yaso-Inaba, was no longer his home. He frowned. No, rather, it was simply not his place of residence. Inaba would always be his home, so long as the people he cared for lived there. A melodic voice interrupted his thoughts. Turning to his left, he realized another student had occupied the seat next to him.

"Excuse me? I seem to have missed what you said." He said politely to the girl next to him. She was foreign, that much Yu could tell. Red, long hair fell in tresses around the girl's shoulders, framing a beautiful face. Cerulean eyes peeked out from long lashes, adding a sense of exoticism to the curiosity that was evident. It was what she wore that surprised him. She seemed to have been wearing a slightly modified Kuoh Academy girl's uniform.

"I asked 'Did you know that every time you sigh, you let out a bit of happiness?'" She repeated for him, a small grin stretching across her face. Yu, unsure how to answer, simply smiled grimly and nodded once. His sixth sense, one honed over a year of fighting the supernatural, one that would allow him to dodge even bullets blindly, was screaming at him. This girl, was dangerous. He wasn't exactly sure _why_ , because it was nothing more than a gut feeling. But Yu resolved to be cautious around her, lest he find out why.

"It would seem apt, I suppose. One doesn't often sigh when they are happy." He finally replied. The girl's eyes twinkled in amusement. As though she were playing some game that only she was privy to. Deep down, her attitude only gave him a deep-seated annoyance. In some ways, he supposed that interacting with others was a game. A game of tact and resilience. It was trying, some times, and difficult the next. It was a game he had mastered. Though calling it a game left a bad taste in his mouth, for it devalued his interactions with others. Waiting for her to respond, Yu held back his tongue, not wanting his observations to offend the girl.

"No, I suppose not. But what is making someone like you so unhappy?" She asked, tilting her head, her voice showing nothing beyond simple curiosity. The boy mulled over his response. It would be a bit too much to burden others with his problems, especially a girl that gave him such apprehension. So he answered a question with a question.

" 'Someone like me'? I don't believe we have met before…" He said, voice lilting upwards indicating that he was asking more than saying. The girl closed one eye in thought, as though racking her head for some instance of their meeting. She looked straight at him once she was done, blue eyes peering into his grey.

"I guess we haven't. But, just from first impressions, you seem quite reliable and quick witted. I don't think you would naturally be so discontent." The girl explained, deftly dodging Yu's probing for her name. The silver haired senior studied the girl closely.

"Narukami Yu, third year transfer at Kuoh Academy." He conceded. To be honest, he was far more skilled than this, as his constant rebuffing of Rise would show. He just simply wasn't in the mood. In fact, similar to his previous years before Inaba, he simply wanted to be left alone, wallowing in his own light misery.

"Gremory Rias, third year at Kuoh Academy." The girl introduced herself with a victorious smirk on her face. Yu simply smiled slightly before shaking her hand. It was all he could do to stop himself from chuckling at how similar this girl was to Rise. Not in the traditional sense either. Rather it was the self satisfaction he could feel oozing out of her pores that made the two seem so similar.

The rest of the ride had been spent in light chatter. Mostly mindless comments about current trends, class difficulty, and personal interests. It was odd, to Yu at least. This girl was so normal, just like every other girl he had met at his school, yet he could not shake this vague sensation that he needed to be wary of her. Even though he would not judge someone for such a vapid reason, the same caution had saved his life and the lives of his friends far too often to be dismissed out of hand.

Soon enough, the bus had stopped at what Yu designated the optimal spot. Although his mother often bought him sweet buns for breakfast, Yu was often still very hungry. He supposed it was a combination of Inaba's large portions and his regular order at Aiya's, the Rainy Day Bowl. When the Investigation Team first saw him devour that thing, they had been torn between aghast, disgusted, and amazed. Kou and Daisuke, on the other hand simply ordered seconds.

"Excuse me." He said politely to Rias, using the lull in their conversation as a convenient escape. He shuffled out of the window seat before stepping into the aisle and pulling his backpack over the shoulder. He was about to step off before he felt a tug on his sleeve.

"You know, this route stops about a block away from the school right?" The girl asked, eyebrows raised. He shrugged, and with a polite smile plucked her hand off his sleeve.

"Yes, I know. I usually buy breakfast here before walking the rest of the way. It wakes me up." He lied. Rather, it simply gave him a good excuse to spend his father's pocket money and avoid the man's totally out of place look of disappointment. He had long since grown used to his father sending him stoic looks, or the rare look of pride when Yu described his achievements. Seeing the man actually seem so hurt made the teen rather uncomfortable.

"Oh, I'll go with you then, I still haven't eaten yet." She said, this time loud enough for others on the bus to here. In fact, there were a few other Kuoh students a few rows up who stared back at them like they were on exhibit. Well, they stared at Yu like he was on exhibit. He noticed that the two girls had given Rias a look that could only described as some sort of cross between celebrity recognition and unrestrained curiosity. Seeing that he was in little position to refuse, the young man sighed and acquiesced. The girl laughed before gathering up her own belongings and following him off the vehicle. She turned to him, smirk set on her face.

"You know, if you sigh that much around someone, it might give the wrong impression." The red haired teen said teasingly. Yu simply sighed once more.

"Who says I'm giving the wrong impression?" He asked brazenly, finally getting a feel for the girl's personality. His polite distancing would not get him far with Rias. She was determined to know him, for some reason or another, and would likely intrude upon his life until he gave her all the little details. The part of him that declared his fellow student a danger simply thrummed with an undertone of pride.

"Why, Narukami-kun, are you saying that you're unhappy around me?" She asked him, leaning into his personal space. Long since used to such boldness, the boy simply smiled wryly before pushing her away with the barest of his finger tips on her shoulder.

"Among other things." He said simply, speeding up and turning into an oddly designed shop. He heard the female student laugh behind her hand before she caught up to him and turned into the same shop. Rias, interested in her fellow student, looked around, absorbing all she could about the food stall. She took one more glance before her gaze settled on Yu. She raised a single delicate eyebrow, obviously unimpressed.

"Gyudon in the morning?" She asked, voice completely bare of any emotion. The other teen nodded. It was not exactly a beef bowl shop, but rather one of the few family owned restaurants in the upper-class district of Kuoh. To put simply, in a city that prided itself on renovation, from its most renown school to even its seedier underbelly, the store stood out like a sore thumb. But, it was simply one of the few remaining bastions of tradition that not even the city's leaders would touch. It simply had too many supporters.

"Ah, Narukami-san. Here again early today?" An elderly man asked as he walked out to the service counter from the back room. The man was like many other Japanese. He was short, but not terribly so, and was the type of wiry that came with old age. His darkly tanned skin stood in contrast with his beige working shirt, and the white bandanna tied around his forehead. The man's bald scalp gleamed in the artificial lighting of the store, matching the tone of the polished wood that the floor and counter were layered with. Yu nodded towards the shopkeep before resting himself on one of the old velvet upholstered cushions. Rias took one more look around, taking in the decorated tiled walls and ceilings before sitting down herself. The old store owner looked the girl over with beady eyes before he pulled out his notepad.

"So what can I get you and your lady friend Narukami-san?" He asked with a countenance filled with energy that didn't quite match his advanced age. The silver haired teen nodded.

"One gyudon and omelette rice please, Takeda-san." The boy said. Shocked, the other patron turned towards Yu.

"They serve omelette rice here?" The foreign girl asked apprehensively. Confused, the calm teen nodded. Unbeknownst to Yu, the girl had a deep dark secret. Rias was indeed foreign, and was also possibly the biggest Japanophile that Yu would ever meet in his life. The girl had an entire room dedicated to anime, with figurines, manga, and light novels decorating the shelves. To hear that she could try a dish so synonymous with her guilty pleasure was a dream come true. Of course, it did raise one question.

"But how did you know that's what I wanted?" Rias asked genuinely curious. The boy simply stared at her like she was missing something. In fact, the shopkeep was as well. The gruff man cleared his throat.

"He didn't. Narukami-san has been ordering that same combo for the past couple of days." The man stated as he jotted down the order. Rias simply stared at the boy, who was fiddling with his wallet. Two whole plate sets for breakfast? It was a miracle the young man wasn't bloated beyond belief. She continued staring, trying to figure out where her classmate put it all. Perhaps he stored some of it away for lunch. That had to be the only feasible explanation. She was interrupted out of her thoughts by the boy. He motioned towards the old man. Embarrassed,she had realized she had forgotten to order in her surprise.

"One small serving of omelette rice for me as well. Extra ketchup please." She asked demurely. The man nodded. His pen danced across his notebook before he ripped the small sheet out and turned into the kitchen. Now alone, the two simply sat in silence before Yu broke it with a small snort. Rias turned her gaze curiously to the boy.

"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly. Even though they had only known each other for a little over half an hour, Rias could tell that it was completely out of character for the other teen. Yu simply stared at her, a grin threatening to split his face in half. He covered his mouth, realizing how his actions could seem unsightly. It took a few minutes before Rias could get a word out of the young man.

"I'm sorry. It's just, that sounded exactly like something my seven year old cousin would order." He let out, humor obvious in his tone. And Yu wasn't wrong. It was almost exactly word for word what Nanako had ordered at Aiya the last time Yu had taken the young girl there. No matter how dangerous Gremory Rias could be, Yu simply could not reconcile the girl in front of him with the one that he had found threatening. The disparity was simply too large, dimensions apart even.

Rias huffed, turning away before grumbling something about "not childish" and "otherwise it wouldn't be in anime". Yu had full understanding of these grumblings, because of his position next to her but decided not to pry. It would be a few moments before the event repeated itself, but this time with Rias in control.

"So, how do you hide all that weight, Narukami-kun? I mean, eating this much every day…" She trailed off, teeth bared like an animal about to feast. Her tone was teasing, but Yu could tell that this was payback for embarrassing her earlier. He chuckled before he rolled up his sleeve and flexed a bit. While it was not anything overtly showy, like the muscles of a bodybuilder, his arm was tightly defined, as though it were wound using steel cables. To be honest, Yu felt that the action itself was showy enough, but he wasn't about to lose this bout as well. He relaxed his arm, and rolled down his sleeve.

"I play a lot of sports. I was actually hoping to join a sports club, but considering the school only recently became co-ed, many of the clubs are still structuring for integration." He explained. Or at least, repeated the explanation he had been given as to why he couldn't join. The only clubs that had actually been properly integrated had been the Kendo and Baseball clubs. Mainly because a fair amount of the school's small male population played baseball, and Kendo operated in a duelist fashion, so the only worry was changing rooms and matchup orders. Waiting for a response, Yu turned to the girl next to him. She was silent, and had a slight flush in her cheeks.

"I see." Rias said quietly. That had been quite unexpected for the young woman. It wasn't as though she hadn't seen the male form before, rather, she had seen perfect examples of the male form, and in much more detail. Just, the abrupt action had thrown her for quite a loop. She would have to concede this bout, as it had been masterfully played by the silver haired teen. Acting like a referee in a wrestling match, the bald cook stepped out of the kitchen, one arm draped with food and protected by a towel and the other holding a small plate. Stopping between them, the man placed the smaller plate in front of Rias, before carefully taking the stacked bowl and plate on his other and placing them in front of Yu.

"One small serving of omelette rice extra ketchup, for the young miss. One gyudon, with fried rice and salted boiled egg, and a large plate of mediterranean style omelette rice for Narukami-san. Enjoy." The man said, walking away. Before the man could make it into the kitchen, Yu called him back and handed him a stack of bills. Realising her faux pas, the girl pulled out her own purse, prepared to ask how much it cost. The teen next to her put a hand on her purse and shook his head.

"I already payed for yours. My parents give me too much pocket money anyways." He said dryly, as though there were some hidden joke. Rias, seeing that there wasn't much of a way to argue without causing a scene, simply accepted the outcome and placed her belongings back into her book bag. She stared down at the plate in front of her. It was just like all the ones she had seen in her anime. It was a perfectly fluffy layer of egg laid upon a bed of rice. The top had been decorated in ketchup, etching a small cats face. She examined it in great detail, even using her chopsticks to lift the egg and see the rice underneath. It was red, like she had expected. She looked over to Yu's plate, wondering what the mediterranean style looked like. Only to find that the entire large plate was gone.

"You've been staring at your plate for the past twenty minutes. If you're not that hungry, we can pack it to go." The boy offered as he began digging into his beef bowl. Rias snapped out of her stupor. Realizing how much time she spent examining her food, she dug into it with great gusto. It was a little colder than she expected, which simply confirmed how long she had been examining it. However, it's temperature did little to detract from its taste. It was delicious. A perfect combination of sour, sweet, and salty. Rias couldn't tell if it was because she hadn't _actually_ eaten breakfast, or if it truly was that delightful. Finishing up the last few bites, she realized she had actually been far hungrier than she realized.

She pulled out her phone and looked at the clock, and sighed in disappointment once she realized they barely had thirty minutes to walk the two and a half miles to school. On a full stomach, trying to cut it any closer would put them at risk of cramps. She stared longingly at the kitchen before a fresh scent invaded her nostrils. She stared down at her plate. Resting on it was a small slice of beef and a couple spoonfuls of fried rice. She turned to the boy, eyebrow raised once again.

"You looked like you were still hungry. Don't worry, I used the other side of my chopsticks and pulled it before I started eating." He explained, motioning to the now greasy end of his utensil. Rias nodded, seeing the light bounce off the piece of wood herself. Using her own chopsticks, she took a clump of rice and put it in her mouth before taking a quick bite of the beef. It was just as good as the dish she had earlier. Tender and salty in contrast to the sweet and sour of the omelette rice. The smell of the dish invaded her palate, a mixture of herbs she was somewhat unfamiliar with. Soon, all of the proffered food was gone as well.

Seeing that the boy was unfinished, Rias was left to her own thoughts. Narukami Yu was a different person than she was expecting. Little did he know, but Yu's gut feelings were correct. Rias was a dangerous being. But, not a malicious one. She was a devil, a high-class family member of one of the 72 Pillars of Hell as described in the Ars Goetia. Her family name, Gremory, was the very same Gremory, Duke of Hell as listed in the Lesser Key of Solomon. She had orchestrated this meeting with Narukami Yu as a means of evaluating his talent.

Devils in the modern era, much to the denial of the Church, were actually a peaceful race. The one singular thing they truly cared about was rebuilding their population. To do so, they used a device known as an Evil Piece to determine magical potential of a being and to then convert them into a lesser devil, as part of a Peerage. The Evil Pieces were rated based on chess terms, with the weakest being one of Eight Pawns, and the most valuable being the King. Of course, the King would be used by the high-class devil to control the lesser pieces in the peerage.

In pursuit of building her Peerage, Rias had approached Yu. Given his background from last year, it was not unlikely that he had some magical awakening of some sort. While the teen's grades were relatively the same, a few points up even, he had undergone a dramatic personality change. He had gone from stoic, possibly anti-social, to the most popular person in the entire school, and if her sources were to be believed, the entire town. The boy held down three part time jobs, relationships with multiple influential people, and managed to be a part of two to three clubs. There was even an online video of him playing bass instrumental for a popular idol's performance.

Even with all this, the girl could not sense a lick of magic from the boy next to her. If anything, he was an example of what humanity could achieve _without_ the supernatural. A real life Ace, that had simply bloomed late in the social department. She grinned sadly to herself. Even though she wished to, she couldn't afford to add the teen to her Peerage unless he brought magical value to it. Rias needed all the powerful pieces she could get for the upcoming battle. The other teen put down his bowl with a clack. That was the signal to leave she supposed. They both gathered up their belongings and stepped out into the busy street. Keeping their heads down, they rushed towards the school, intent on making it on time. As a result, they barely shared any conversation, besides a few passing by comments on something particularly interesting, like a large billboard.

Around half an hour later, they both arrived at school. Stepping in through the gates, Yu was greeted by the hushed noise of whispers. It was something he was used to, being a perpetual transfer student. Though it was the subject material that threw him for a loop. Apparently the two girls he had seen on the bus had taken the little they knew of the situation and ran with it. Much of it had to do with Rias, and just as much of it operated under the belief that Yu was her secret boyfriend who had transferred to be with her. Which, according to the rumors, would also explain why she had not yet gone out with someone named Yuuto Kiba even though they were in the same club. He sighed, already tired with the subject of the rumor. The girl next to him noticed his discontent as they walked to class.

"I'm sorry. First I impose on your breakfast, and now I cause this." She said sincerely. While Yu could blame her for the first part, he couldn't exactly control what the school thought. He shook his head.

"It's fine, I've had worse." He said quietly. In fact, now that he thought about it, he had worse just last year. Had Yasogami High rumors been true, Yu would be the leader of a bisexual harem which included, but was not limited to, the entire Investigation Team, his own little cousin, and many of his other social links. Truly the minds of teenagers were a frightful thing. They turned another corner before walking up the steps. The chattering seemed to get quieter as they neared the third floor, most likely because attendance was not for another fifteen minutes.

"Still, I would like to apologize for their behavior. They're normally all quite nice, they just…" Rias said at a loss for words. There was nothing she could say to describe how the school treated her after all. It was as though she were on some unreachable pedestal. And to be honest with herself, she had come to a mortal high school to rid herself of such triviality. If she wanted to be treated like a princess, than she could have been educated at home by private tutors and been an actual princess. The boy nodded, and smiled gratefully at her, appreciating the sentiment. She supposed, this was what having a normal friend was like.

Rias treated her peerage like her family. Though she loved them, they were exactly that. Family. They grew up together. She saw some of the worst moments of their lives. Rias had seen what defined her peerage members, before they broke, and had been re-shaped into the people she knew. There was little she could hide from them, and little they could hide from her. Akeno was her sister in all but blood. Kiba was her foolish little brother. Koneko was the little sister Rias had always wanted. Gasper… was the little brother Rias had never knew she wanted til she had met him.

They didn't fill the spot in her heart that she reserved for a friend. Someone who could look her in the eye and say that she was nothing more than Rias. Sona came close, but even then, with the other girl's own trappings of nobility, it was not a friendship that could last into adulthood. At that point, it would become an alliance. Rias sighed at her situation. Which eked a grin from the teen next to her.

"You know, someone once told me that sighing released happiness. I don't suppose it would be me that makes you so sad?" He said teasingly. Rias pouted in response to hide her turmoil of emotions. In fact, she wanted to tell her school mate that it was the exact opposite. Rias had never felt so normal in her entire seventeen years, than the past hour she had spent with the young man. Yu took a quick glance at the pensive look on the red haired girl's face. She had never taken this long to quip back before, so he assumed she had simply conceded. To his surprise, she was staring dead ahead, intently focused on something that required great memory.

However, Yu had seen that look often in the last year. It was the look his friends would often adapt when thinking of their Shadows. To be faced with the truth and desires one repressed with the entirety of their soul. Seeing the look on the sly girl's face didn't sit well with him. So he did what he did best. Offer an ear.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked quietly, stepping closer to ensure their privacy. Rias, startled out of her stupor looked at him with her light blue eyes. Unlike before, the twinkle of curiosity and mischief did not exist. Rather, she gazed at him as though he were some rare beast she wished to capture and examine. He coughed into his hand to let her know she was staring. Rias flushed slightly before shaking her head and responding.

"No, it's fine. But…" She started, trailing off, nervousness obvious. The boy stopped in his walking to turn towards the girl, and he waited. The red haired girl stared at him before something resolute formed in her gaze. Then, she ventured forth with her question. The silver haired boy, was caught off guard, so it took him a few moments to fully understand the question. When he finally did so, he chuckled good naturedly.

Rias, unused to this type of social interaction, had acted how she felt would be best. Which meant to act on her only source of non-forced social interaction: Anime. Which is why her head was bowed, and why she had blurted out her request to the silver haired teen. In all honestly, it probably looked like she had confessed to the teen, and given the whispers floating around them from the few straggling students, she had confirmed it. But, all the humiliation would be worth it, if he said yes. Instead, he started laughing. Aghast, Rias shot straight up, and stared at the other boy. He was indeed trying to cover up his guffaws.

Rias honestly couldn't believe it. Was her request that pathetic? It was a shock to her heart. That not even a human would want to be friends with "Rias the person". She could feel the stares of the people around her. She wasn't used to this. This sense of rejection. Her bangs covered her eyes, and she could not muster the energy to correct them. Besides, it would be easier to hide her tears.

"I-I'm sorry. It's-It's just that, aren't we friends already?" Yu tried to say through his laughter. He didn't exactly have a _good_ reason to be laughing. Especially since he could see just how much this meant to the poor girl. It was just, that out of all his social links and interactions with others, none of them had ever been so _direct_ with such a simple question. It was just a natural assumption, that they were friends after a certain point. It was just this sense of ease that he could feel radiated from the both of them. He saw Rias pull her bangs away, and blink away the tears that had been forming on her face. The girl looked at him, utterly confused and at a loss for words, before speaking up.

"W-W-We are?" The girl asked with a shaky voice. Rias was right to be confused. Even if their relationship had only been one meeting, Yu could tell from experience that they were friends. They fell so in-step with each other, and he had no idea why. It was just something about the way they traded banter and talked. He nodded.

"Your name is Gremory Rias. You like to tease people, and have a little bit of a competitive edge with it. You get flustered when something unexpected happens. You're a bit too curious for your own good, and given your performance right now, I think you watch too much anime." Yu said serious in action, but not in tone. It was light, and it was calm, much like how he handled the rest of his social links. While Rias wasn't a social link, that didn't mean Yu would leave her out to dry. To turn away from her would be to turn away from himself. It was now that Yu realized why they were so compatible.

In a sense, they were like everyone else he had formed a bond with in Inaba. They all felt isolated, even Yu himself, because of their own insecurities. Sayoko couldn't deal with her own failures as a nurse, and would work herself and others to death to rid herself of the feeling. Hisano couldn't come to grips with her own grief, pushing away what remained of her family and crippled herself with self loathing. Shu, cracking under the pressure of planning for the future, couldn't relate to others who were too carefree. It was the same song and dance for many of them. Even the IT, though they usually operated under trying to accept the truth that their shadows presented themselves.

However, it was Yu that felt the most kinship with Rias. She was a student that was looked up to, and isolated for it. Being foreign probably did little to help her in the friend category. Much like Yu himself. As a constant transfer student, he carried the connotation of being a troublemaker. No matter how good his grades, or how sterling his recommendations, people did not normally _transfer every year._

It was much like King Moron said on his first day of Yasogami. The fact that he transferred this much probably meant he was a loser. So, knowing this sense of isolation, he accepted Rias as his friend the moment she voiced her concern. The girl began laughing, joining in Yu's good mood.

"I guess we are if you knew that much about me already." She said once she calmed down. Yu looked around once more. Much to his relief, most of the students gave them privacy once they thought a confession was taking place. The few that remained did not look like the type to gossip, or at least no one would believe them. He eyed the three second years peering around the far corner. They made eye contact, and all three rushed away, shouting and yelping in their wake. A look of relief was all that remained on Rias's face.

She had bared her heart, and while it was a bit rushed, she could tell that the other student accepted it. They were now friends, in the barest sense of the word. Even the smallest bit of turbulence could run the risk of ruining it. She smiled stupidly, and she couldn't control the grin one bit. It was a start.

 **A/N: Read and Review :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: New chapter with tons of words!**

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 **So, little bit of SPOILERS, we're doing the first devil fight in this chapter. How Yu handles the reveal of the supernatural world will be up to me of course. But, just one thing, and I will explain it again in the next chapter as well, and my reasoning why. Rias will NOT know about Yu's persona ability after this. She will suspect he had awakened some sacred gear or was simply lucky and escaped. Spoilers over.**

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Rias sat in class, meticulously counting down the seconds until it was dismissed. The clock's long hand crested the third quarter in agonizing slowness. Another minute passed by. She huffed before redirecting her attention to the lecturer. It was material that she had long since mastered. It wouldn't do for the heiress of the Gremory family to fall behind in her studies. Her eyes roved around the classroom, before meeting the chilling gaze of their student council president. She quickly turned away.

Sona Sitri, or in the human world Sona Shitori, had been Rias's friend for as long as the girl could remember. Whether that was out of familial obligation, or personal decision, Rias could never tell. The other girl guarded her emotions behind a facade of steel. Though Rias was beginning to feel that it was Sona's personal decision to befriend her. After all, the girl had refrained from adding _any_ of the promising humans or extra-demons in the school to her Peerage. Considering that was Kuoh's main purpose, to gather the most exceptional humans and non-pillar clan devils into one place to be thoroughly examined by higher devils, it must have been difficult for Sona to restrain herself.

It had taken Rias a while to figure out that Sona had done little in terms of recruitment, and even longer to figure out why. The other girl had apparently refused to snatch any of the promising pieces until Rias had an adequate amount of pieces herself. Sona's peerage was nearly complete, while the Gremory king still had eleven of her pieces unused. It was likely out of respect as a rival and for Rias's precarious position with her family. She had begun letting out a deep groan of frustration before silencing herself. Even if her Peerage was rather scarce, she had quality in spades, she countered mentally.

In fact, even the piece she had been scouting out as a Pawn was likely to be of high quality, Sona's opinions be damned. Koneko had smelled the scent of a dragon on the boy, meaning that any Sacred Gear the boy had would be disgustingly powerful. In fact, even the lowest of draconic Sacred Gears, Twice Critical, a gear that would allow one to double their power indefinitely given enough training, was considered a mid level gear based on versatility alone.

The ringing of the school bell shook Rias out of her thoughts. Snapped out of her daze, she quickly jotted down the assigned material, before gathering her things and briskly walking out of the classroom. She had a friend to meet. Rias almost squealed in delight. Being able to say that had made her euphoric. She had a friend to meet, she repeated to herself. This time, a grin broke out on her face as she walked towards her destination.

She stepped outside the classroom before a firm grip on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks. Rias turned, and she was assaulted by the amethyst glare sent by her childhood friend. To be honest, Rias had always found it fitting that the other girl's family specialized in ice based magic. Because even the warmest or most valiant of hearts would likely freeze under the harsh gaze of the school's student president.

"Rias, I would like an explanation." The other girl said sternly. Rias blanched. This had been the song and dance for most of their relationship. Rias would do something that Sona would consider bullheaded, and the other girl would scold her for her recklessness. The redhead adopted a look of fake curiosity before answering.

"Did I do something?" She asked. Sona sighed, knowing that the Gremory heiress wouldn't admit that she had done something wrong. She resolved herself to skip the pleasantries and forcefully remind her childhood friend of the reality of her situation.

"You know he has no magical potential. You are wasting the little time you have." Sona said evenly. Her tone did little to belie the strength of her words. Rias flinched at the accusation. Sona, seeing that her message was delivered, turned and walked away, black hair swaying as she walked. Rias simply stared on, unsure as to how to proceed.

She was fully aware of how little time she had. The agreement with her parents had been swaying over her every thought. Idly, she supposed this was what the Americans described as noblesse oblige. A damning responsibility of those of noble lineage to uphold the standards that they lived by. While at the start, she had railed against her family's decision, Rias had long since resigned to spending her life as nothing more than a figurehead. And so, the princess had hoped that no one would begrudge her for spending her last few years as a free woman in ignorance. Sona was never one to give up so easily, she supposed.

She climbed the stairs, looking for the person that could wash away these worries. It was probably cruel, she thought, to use the kind boy in such a manner. After giving her previous desperations some thought over the past few days, Rias had come to a disturbing conclusion. It was not a friend she needed. Rather, she needed an outlet. One that made her forget about her responsibilities, duties, and restrictions as an heiress of a noble devil family.

That was not to say that Rias did not consider Narukami Yu her friend. But she could not honestly admit to herself that she was acting as a friend to him. Every time they had talked the last few days had consisted of a mix of idle chatter and banter. It was a type of give and take in a relationship that Rias had never experienced before. Most of her subordinates were cowed before her, either due to her status, beauty, or power. Her Peerage deferred to her. And all the adults in her life gave Rias their love unconditionally.

Talking to Yu had been different though. The boy would tease her, completely unashamed of the words coming out of his mouth. He would challenge her constantly, expecting a challenge in return. So, it would be a constant tug of war, to see who had the upperhand in their little game.

Rias was, has been, and always will be, a greedy girl at heart. She was a devil after all. She would soak all his attention, and take all his personal time for herself. Just so she could forget for just a little longer. She had learned about him, while she had shared next to nothing about herself. Except for once.

Once, Rias had vented to the boy about her situation, heavily edited of course. Afterwards, he offered to shoulder her burdens, out of some misguided kindness. Rias denied him, citing that it was not his battle. Yu had bristled silently, and told her with a straight face that as her friend, her burdens were his burdens. She laughed it off, and told him to not worry, and that the problem was still years away. But, it warmed her heart that she could be so open about her frustrations.

Although she had her peerage, Rias would never let them know the fear she held in the depths of her heart. She cared for them too much to share that she was unsure in her resolve. It was her obligation as a leader to put on a strong face and challenge their enemies with a bright smile and a bushy tail. The situation with Sona was not much better. In that case, it had been pride that had chained her. High-class Devils were beings born with immense power, and as a result, immense self-worth. Rias could not, and would not shame herself or her friend by exposing her own weaknesses.

Yu, however, had none of those always present factors. He was confident. Confident enough that he could talk to, as the school had dubbed Rias and Akeno, "One of the Great Onee-sama" as an equal. He was handsome, and did not shy away from her imposing looks. His status as a mundane human simply ensured that he would never learn about Rias's secrets. Although, Rias had a sneaking suspicion that even if he knew, it would not matter to him. It was this distance from her moon-lit life that made it easy for Rias to accept him as her sense of normalcy. Akin to the rose colored youth that she always read about in manga. She pried open the roof door, and stepped out looking to greet the silver haired teen.

"Hey." The other senior greeted, arm deep in his bag foraging for his lunch. Rias covered her mouth with her hand before giggling. The other teen always seemed so out of place with his straight expression. It was the juxtaposition of Yu's disposition and his slightly off kilter actions that always made her laugh. She sat down on the bench next to him, deftly pulling her own lunch out of her bag in one smooth motion.

"Hey." She greeted back. The boy rummaged some more, going so far as to stick his head into the book bag, before unzipping another pocket and pulling out a wrapped bento. Rias looked at him questioningly.

"My mother made it." He said. She nodded. Afterall, while he had his idiosyncrasies, Yu always used the same matte black, double stack lunch box. The pink handkerchief wrapped, brown lacquer box was unexpected. Yu shuddered a bit, before setting down the box in his lap and began unwrapping it. Confused by his actions, Rias peered at the lunch box while he lifted up the cover.

The first thing that hit her was the smell. Rias could not even describe it. It was simply that terrible. The closest comparison she could make was several magnitudes better than the monstrosity that sat in the other teen's lap. In fact, the sulfur pits of the Underworld were several tens of magnitudes better than that affront to food. Yu pulled out his eating utensils, eyes dead to the world. At this point, our protagonist had begun thinking he was born under a special star. What were the chances that _every_ female in his life was a cook from hell? The only one that hadn't been terrible had been Naoto, and she liked to pretend she was a boy. He slid the chopsticks out of the case, before slapping his hands together in prayer.

"Thank you for the food." He mumbled out. Just as he was about to put his chopsticks into the brown sludge that he assumed was his mother's attempt at curry, a delicate hand grabbed his wrist. He followed the offending appendage up to its owner, who was looking at him like he was a mad man.

"You're not seriously that hungry are you? I mean, I have a little bit more than usual today, so I could at least give you some to tide you over until the end of school." Rias said, glancing between the eldritch horror and the young man. Yu shook his head in response, a steely glint showing up in his eyes.

"This is not a matter of hunger. My mother took the time out of her busy schedule to prepare this for me. I would be remiss in my duties as her son if I did not eat the lunch she so lovingly crafted." He said with utmost determination. Rias stared at him.

"First, I can't believe you said _that_ with a straight face," She started before motioning to the box once more, "Second, saying that eating it is your duty does not exactly fill me with confidence…". Yu nodded, understanding her confusion. He had heard from her before that her family was extremely well off. It was likely she had never had a proper home cooked meal prepared by someone she loved.

"Even so." He said before he dug his chopsticks into a chunk of raw rice, dipped it in the curry, and shoved it in his mouth. He swallowed it whole, hoping to not taste the meal. Rias watched as the boy began sweating, cheeks strained from his labored breathing. Humbled by his dedication, she quickly offered her own prayer before starting on her own lunch as they fell into a comfortable silence while eating.

No one else had deigned to eat lunch on the roof that day, so the only noises that could be heard during the ordeal had been the sound of chewing and the occasional gagging noise from Yu. Even for Rias, a devil exposed to the horrors of humanity, it was an arduous ordeal to watch the boy shovel down what was certainly going to be the cause of his death. Eventually, they both finished, leaving them free to spend their lunch period as they saw fit. Rias quickly bundled her box once again, before stowing it away, Yu doing the same. Though the boy kept the handkerchief, holding it in a tight grip in case of emergency.

"I can't believe you ate it all…" Rias said, thoroughly amazed. She was being honest as well. It was almost impossible to believe that anyone could have the fortitude to eat such wretched cooking. Yu smiled hollowly.

"That's what they always say." He droned out, voice rasping from the constant gagging. It was the truth. His father had once told him that a way to a woman's heart was their cooking. Although, Yu had later learned that his father had completely butchered the saying to the point that the message was completely wrong, he had still believed in its intent. It was wrong to ignore the efforts of others. After that torturous meal, however, Yu was suspecting that his father had intentionally messed with him so that the man could pawn off his wife's cooking on the unfortunate boy. The silver haired teen groaned as the food settled once more in his stomach. In the back of his mind, he wondered when had the sun become so green.

"Are you alright?" Rias said, gaze roving over the boy worryingly. He nodded, before slumping deeper into the bench. He let his eyes rest a bit, trying to focus on keeping down his lunch. All of a sudden, he felt a light tug on his arm. He opened his left eye. Rias sat there with a gentle smile on her face as she laid out her own kerchief on her lap. She patted it gently before pulling Yu by his shoulder. The teen was far too exhausted to argue, so he simply let his head fall down onto the girl's lap.

"Thank you." He said sincerely. The girl nodded, before she started talking. Yu, wanting to take his mind off of his stomach, simply nodded along to her words, throwing in a sly comment every once in awhile. Eventually, their peace was ruined by a loud ringtone. Yu, recognizing the song, pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was different from the flip phone he had back in Inaba. Instead of the old Samsung, he now held one of the popular smart phones in his hand. Yu hadn't remembered the brand, but he knew it was popular.

The reason he had a new phone was quite plain. He had wanted to maintain better connections with his friends in Inaba, so he bought them all new phones with video calling capabilities as a parting gift. Except Rise and Naoto. The girl idol had already procured the best new model to stay ahead of the trends, funded by her manager. Naoto on the other hand had pulled out a proprietary model she had made herself, much to her embarrassment, as it had been decorated with Ranger Phoenix Featherman stickers.

The other members of the Investigation Team tried to hand them back, but Yu had rebutted them by admitting that about half the cost was from the team's own adventuring account, and that he had _very_ deep pockets. They had accepted with little argument after that. Yu apologized to Rias, who brushed it off. She was curious as to who would be calling Yu in the middle of the day via video. He swiped screen across, answering the call. Yosuke always tried to call him around lunchtime, saying that it was easier to gather the whole group together. It was also because lunch was the only time Rise could get free to join in on the conference calls.

The phone's screen lit up, a connection icon playing for a second before the a slightly blurred image came up. The young man on the screen was pretty normal looking to Rias, even if he had odd taste in neckwear. He had brown hair and chestnut eyes, which when combined with the absolutely goofy smile on his face made him come across as boyish. The screen settled once again, refining the resolution before the boy started.

"Hey partner, you settlin…" The brown haired boy started enthusiastically before his bright expression sank. It was something of a mix between astonishment, jealousy, and annoyance. Immediately his phone rang again, this time signalling to Yu that Rise had wanted to join the call. The Wild Card tapped once more, this time a girl's image splayed across half the screen, splitting the real-estate with Yosuke's call.

"Mou, Senpai, why didn't you answer wh-" The girl managed to say before stopping abruptly. Rias, studied the girl closely as well. Given what she said, it was obvious that this was one of Yu's kouhai from one of his previous schools. In fact, given her cutesy attitude and trendy look, Rias would probably wager that the girl had a very strong crush on the silver haired boy in her lap.

Her thoughts stopped at that. Now she realized why the other two had stopped so abruptly. Yu was having a video call. A video call in which the background to his head was the skirt and legs of a girl. She couldn't help herself. Rias broke out in partially restrained laughter. Yu, from his position, merely raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to the screen. Yosuke spoke first.

"Dude. It's barely been a week. How? Like, you're a good looking guy and all, but seriously!? I can't even get a girl's _number_ , yet here you are doing _this._ " The brown haired boy said, torn between pride in his best friend's skills and his own jealousy. Rise continued in place of Yosuke, her voice carrying disappointment instead of disbelief.

"Senpaaaaaai! If you wanted a lap pillow, you could have just called me! Not go strutting around, looking for floozies." Rias's anger flared like the sun. Her thoughts were immediately overwhelmed with the need to destroy the other girl. She was a devil, not a succubus damn it.

"Don't worry, we're just friends Rise." The teen on Rias's lap said disarmingly. Rias huffed while crossing her arms under her chest. Yu turned away from the phone to smile thankfully at Rias. He knew that Rise wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with, especially as a girl. Rias nodded, before turning her attention back to the screen.

"Senpai, you always say that you're 'just friends' with them." The girl said while pouting. Yu stared at the screen confused before he raised an eyebrow in thought. Now that he thought about it, he was "just friends" with a lot of the women in his life.

"'Them'?" Rias asked, confused by the girl's statement. While she hadn't meant to be part of the conversation, her voice was overheard by the two on the phone, who perked up at hearing someone else. Rise opted to clarify her statement.

"You know, all the girls that have crushes on Senpai. Like Yukiko-senpai, Chie-senpai, Naoto-kun, Marie-chan, Ayane-chan, Yumi-senpai…" The starlet listed a few more names, counting off on her fingers as she named each one. As the names kept piling up, Yu was beginning to feel despair claw up his throat. He had to admit, that maybe he was a bit of a playboy. Yosuke took this time to intervene. Not helpfully.

"Wait, Naoto has a crush on Yu?" He asked aloud, taking a bottle of water from outside the screen and taking a sip. In the background, Rias could hear a voice call out "Yosuke-senpai" embarrassed. Rias grinned to herself cheerfully, finding the entire situation quite humorous. Rise answered her other senpai with about the same respect as she usually did, which is to say, none at all.

"Well yeah. I mean, it's about as obvious as the crush you and Kanji have with Senpai, Yosuke-senpai." The brown haired boy on the other half of the screen froze stiff, before coughing up some of the water he had been drinking. Immediately, he had begun spitting out vehement denials. All of which culminated into saying that Rise was simply imagining things, and that if there was a crush, it would just be Kanji. Yu could hear the sputtering of his junior through the call because he had been closer to the screen than Rias.

"Look, I have no idea whe- wha- Ted, give me back my phone!" Yu watched as the screen went dark, covered by a hand before it swung around, looking between the sky and ground. The imagery continued for a few seconds, squabbling and shouts coming out of the background. Rise, apparently used to this, had developed a long standing look of boredom. Rias simply looked at Yu, before mouthing "Ted?" to the boy. He simply nodded and held up a finger before silently telling her to wait and see.

Eventually, a youthful face with blonde hair and bright blue eyes took the place of the headphones wearing teen from before. He wore a white, frilled dress shirt, with a rose tucked into the breast pocket. His hair was swept back and his smile was massive. He winked.

"Hey Rise-chan. Hey Sensei!" Teddie exclaimed, speakers bursting on Yu's phone. Shocked by the sudden loudness, Yu pushed the phone further away from him, giving the others on the call a full view of Rias.

"Wowie, Sensei, she's a total babe!" The boy said, much to the chagrin of Yu. Rias simply smiled awkwardly and waved hello, a little unsettled by his forwardness. Yu shot her a look of apology, already used to the odd little shadow. She smiled kindly before a voice on the phone chirped up.

"'Just friends', huh Senpai?" Rise questioned with a notable tone of disbelief. Rias cleared her own throat and gently pushed Yu off of her. The boy simply nodded, and sat up straight, tilting the phone so that it could still capture both of the students on the bench.

"We _are_ just friends. I have no romantic intentions towards Narukami-kun." She said, emphasizing the details of their relationship. Yu nodded in agreement, as his heart already belonged to another. Rise huffed.

"I give you a week before you want to get in his pants." She challenged. Rias, taken aback, shied away from the phone. Even as a foreigner, she felt that Yu's friend was rather rude.

"Rise!" Yu scolded, a thoroughly annoyed look on his face. The other blonde was much the same, and from the tone of the voices in the background, so were the rest of Yu's friends. In his usual Teddie fashion, Teddie felt obligated to loudly defend his Sensei's honor.

"Rise-chan, that was just rude! Sensei wouldn't need more than two days to score! Right, Sensei?" He said, smiling face and cheerful tone contrasting Yu's aggrieved expression of shame. Unable to handle their combined explicitness, Yu hung up with a quick goodbye. He turned to Rias, intent on properly apologizing. He stood up and faced her.

"Please accept my apologies on behalf of my friends." He bowed deeply once he finished. Rias simply mumbled that it was no problem. Yu sighed out of frustration and held a hand to his head, trying to stem the oncoming headache. He was quite conflicted. He felt that it was amazing to see them again, as though his heart had started beating once more. Yet, there was no end to the embarrassing situations those two could cook up if left unchecked.

Rias looked the boy over with a calculating eye. It had taken her a while to figure out who was on the call, but she eventually recognized all of them. They were in the scouting reports after all: Rise Kujikawa, Yosuke Hanamura, and an odd foreigner named Ted. The Naoto they had mentioned must have been Naoto Shirogane. Beyond their names, Rias knew that Rise and Naoto were both famous, but she couldn't exactly remember what their specialties were. Her blue irises rose to meet Yu's own silver ones. A mischievous glint sparkled once more.

"Two days?" She asked in faux innocence, as though she did not understand the ramifications of what the blonde had said. Yu's calm smile morphed into a confident smirk, bordering on arrogant.

"I've been told that I'm rather smooth." He teased back, the sense of challenge awakening his competitive spirit. Rias nodded because in all honesty, she believed him. His mannerisms and demeanor had already garnered him a fan club that dwarfed her knight's own. He already had his own title, the "Kingpin of Steel", named after his constantly straight countenance. Realizing that it was now her move, she opened her mouth to retort, only for the loud church-esque school bell to cut her off. Yu smirked back in victory.

The rest of the school day passed with little fanfare for Yu. He went to each of his classes quietly, dodging any intrigued looks or overly rowdy love-struck students. It was business as usual for him. Although, many of the admirers today had been male, attempting to accost Yu for some odd belief that he had seduced Rias.

Three second year boys had tried to ruin his reputation by forcing him into the girl's changing room. His sheer charisma and status as a new student had been all that saved his hide. However, just because he had been successful at deflection did not mean he skimped on his revenge.

Using his own wit, Yu tricked the three boys into the changing rooms himself. It was far easier than he thought it would be. He simply told the three to thank the girls for the free show. They summarily barged in. The slaps that ensued would be causing his ears to ring for the next few days. Stepping up to his locker, the teen spinned in his combination before raising the latch. He pulled out the rest of his reading materials and stuffed them into his bag, before pulling out an umbrella and shutting his locker.

It had rained pretty heavily early in the morning, but it had ended quickly, leaving a sunny day in its wake. In fact, he and Rias were quite lucky the roof had been so oddly dry now that he thought about it. Yu shrugged off the thought before exchanging his shoes with the ones inside the bottom of the locker.

Kuoh Academy was odd in that regard. Unlike the multitude of other schools in Japan that conserved space by only issuing students a thirty centimeter by thirty centimeter box, the school used full size lockers situated in external buildings. It was probably due to the school's western roots, as it was originally a catholic school in the past, Yu surmised. As he walked outside, something off to the side had caught his attention.

It had a deep green background and was occupying the entire wall. Yu had noticed it before, but never paid it much attention. There wasn't anything too important about a PSA board anyhow. This time however, a flyer enticed him off his usual routine of heading straight home. It had a simple message. It was a job advert. On it was nothing more than the words "Help Wanted", an address, and the English letter A, all centered on the paper in large block print.

Yu thought it was some method of denoting GPA requirement, or an odd way of catching the attention of employee hopefuls. He glanced around, making sure no one else had been interested in the offer before pulling the flyer off the board. While it didn't have a proper job description, Yu felt that at least he could give it a look over. He needed something productive to do, and he had a wealth of experience as a part time worker. So he walked off towards the address, paper in hand.

What Yu had not known, was that the job offer was less a job and more an assassination. Kuoh Academy was the lynchpin of its devil territory, and as such, it handled a multitude of magical requests, from herb gathering to large scale ritual preparation. These requests would be posted on school message boards, denoted in difficulty and pay by the singular rank on the paper, followed by a succinct summary. The average human couldn't muster up the magical energy to see them, of course, due to special spells and insurances by those who placed the requests.

Making the requests public had been a genius insight of the school's student council president. It was a method of processing and empowering local extra-demons who could not find a human contractor or find a high-class devil sponsor. All the while efficiently raising the prestige of the two joint owners, the Gremory and the Sitri, by allowing them to take credit for work outside of their own Peerages.

However, the devil who had been handling the requests that day had been a fresh reincarnation. As such, his skills with mundane interference wards left much to be desired. The result? Genshirou Saji had unwittingly revealed the world of devils.

Yu stepped off of the bus. He had been still largely unfamiliar with the city he now lived in, but he had a smart phone. Yu looked around the street he was walking on. He checked his phone to make sure he hadn't mistyped the address. Yu looked around once more, rather confused. Apparently, the address on the flyer had been the street address for one of the many storage buildings in the warehouse district. He supposed it wouldn't be too surprising if the job turned out to be manual labor, as those were often the only choice for students. That or customer service. Yu shuddered, memories of his time as a late night bus boy at Shiroku's coming to the forefront of his mind. He would never admit it, but the residents of Yaso-Inaba were just plain weird sometimes.

In the end, it took him around an hour to find the specified location. The twists and turns of the alleys that he had to take were not listed on any map site. The fact that it had gotten dark had also done little to help Yu, as it made it difficult to read the individual building numbers. His eyes squinted at the numbered plaque in front of him, before he took out the advert. It seemed to him that this was the correct building.

He stepped up to the steel access door and pressed the intercom on the right hand side. It bleeped loudly, startling Yu, before it abruptly stopped. Seeing no answer, the handsome teen tried a few more times. He gave up after the third try, deciding to come back tomorrow. Yu walked away from the building, assuming that he had simply come too late in the day. He had left school rather late today, thanks to those three second years. As soon as his foot dropped off the raised platform, the door behind him creaked fiercely. Yu turned around, wondering what had happened.

Stood in the doorway was an elderly man. He had a crown of white hair that circled his thinning scalp. His skin was pale, and the man himself seemed exceptionally frail. A slightly large bulge sat right above his waist, contrasting with his thin limbs and body. Beady eyes peered out from underneath a thick brow, and his mouth was curled in distaste. If anything, the man looked like Igor, if he had a sour disposition and a much shorter nose.

Yu realizing that he was intruding, bowed in apology before handing the man the advert, explaining that he was here looking for part time work. The man took one glance at the paper, eyes roving over its text. Yu was somewhat concerned that the elder may have forgotten his reading glasses, considering it normally wouldn't take someone two minutes to decipher two words and an address. The old man cracked a wry grin, before shooting the boy another beady look.

"So...you say... you are here… to fulfill… this request?" The man said taking deep and hoarse breaths every few words. Yu nodded. The man broke out in raucous laughter, nearly losing control of himself as he began choking on his own spit. It was this unsettling cackle that tipped Yu off that something was amiss. All of a sudden, one of the lampposts on the far corner shorted out, blanketing the street in darkness. Yu watched as more and more lights around him followed the same action, their bulbs spontaneously shattering.

The man stood up straight, rearing back to his full height with a series of sickly sounding cracks and snaps. The bump that had represented his stomach had shifted. Yu watched in horror, as the growth slid up the man's body, finally resting below his chin in a poor imitation of a toad. The Persona user, finally shocked out of his stupor, threw his briefcase at the man's head and took off, hoping to get some distance. It bounced off the man's face as though the multiple pounds of hard book weighed less than a paper clip.

Yu pushed his body to the limit as he ran. There was little he could when faced with this monstrosity. After all, his journey was over, the power to wield the arcana of The World was beyond his grasp. He heard a loud cracking noise far behind him, as though someone had taken a sledgehammer and destroyed the sidewalk. Another cracking noise shot through the air, this time far closer. There was silence for a few seconds before it repeated itself once more.

It was pretty easy for the young man to deduce what the noises were. He had heard it plenty of times after all. It was the sound of something heavy crashing through a hard surface. Many Shadows under the Justice arcana had a preference for wanton destruction due to their size and weight. The Giants and the Swords mostly. Yu knew that he could not outrun such a creature, so he ducked into a nearby alley.

 **Call…**

Yu staggered midstep. He ignored the gravelly voice, dismissing it as a byproduct of his stress. He ran down the alleyway, shoes spraying droplets of water as his feet brushed through the few puddles remaining from this morning's storm. Sprinting another block, the teen made another abrupt change in direction. The alleyway had bypassed a construction site. Clambering over the fence, Yu could barely hear the cackles of the creature chasing him. The blood rushing through his head had made it difficult to hear anything whatsoever.

His muscles screamed in protest as he dragged himself into the massive steel skeleton of the building. Settling himself on the damp concrete, Yu looked around for any sign of his pursuer. As far as he could see, there was nothing but steel girders and leftover construction equipment. He pulled his arm over his head and leaned back on one of the supports behind him, trying to even out his breathing. It was a trick he had learned from Daisuke during one of their more intense practices.

 **Call Upon…**

This time, Yu knew the voice was not part of his imagination. He looked around, trying to find if anyone else was stuck in the same predicament. At the very least, he could make sure that another person escaped before him, given that the student had a depth of supernatural experience. However, as his eyes roamed around the building materials, he caught not a single sight of another human. Yu's eyes widened before he dove from his hiding spot. Whether it was luck, or honed instinct, the boy had saved himself from being crushed by tons upon tons of steel.

The young man turned, examining the destruction wrought behind him. While many of the supports still remained standing, a whole mess of warped girders sat in the spot he had occupied. Yu looked up, into the upper floors of the structure. Standing there, moon at its back, was the monster responsible. It reared up on its hind legs giving Yu a full view of its reptilian visage.

Whatever had remained of the old man was long gone. In its place, was a monstrous being that easily ten feet in length. Its webbed feet gripped at the steel beam it was standing on, bulbous toes sinking deep into the steel. The bones of the monster's spine were easily visible, protruding through the skin of its back in some sick attempt at a fin. But what was most inhuman about it, was the eyes. Eyes that radiated through the night like a sun. Their yellow bloodshot tinge listlessly gazing forward, as though the beast was blind. It let out a raspy breath, dust exhaling from its large mouth. Yu watched as the residue made contact with a separate nearby beam. It eroded to rust instantaneously.

"To...think that...the sisters of the four...would send someone...so pathetic." Its words did not match its facial movement. It was as though something was speaking from deep within its gut and was using the mouth as an amplification device. Yu stared back, dread creeping down his spine. It wasn't often that he was scared. Or in more elaborate terms, there had only been three times in the past year when Yu had been truly scared.

The first had been when Nanako had been kidnapped. It was as though all his worst expectations had decided to manifest in the real world. The second, had been when fighting Adachi, and Ameno-Sagiri in succession. Yu had felt that he had truly lost a man that he was beginning to call friend. The third had been the worst. It was when Marie had planned to kill herself through the Hollow Forest. Yu had been sure to scold her, hug her, and kiss her after that incident, to show Marie that he would never forget her. Now, however, Yu could honestly say that it was the first time in his life that he was scared for his own life.

"Goodbye." The monstrosity took a deep breath, the sac on its throat expanding to almost cartoonish levels, before it released it all. The loud sound of rushing wind flew past the teen's ears. He watched, as though it were in slow motion, as a cloud of dust flew towards him. It rapidly eroded and ate into anything in its way, be it concrete, rebar, or wood. Yu could not bring himself to look away as his death rushed towards him.

 **Call Upon My Strength, Whelp!**

Perhaps it was adrenaline or habit that prompted him to act. But either way, the voice snapped Yu out of his despondent state. He would not die here. He could not _afford_ to die here. He stuck his hand out. Blue wisps of power started swirling off his body. He would force the world to bend to the Truth of Narukami Yu. All it took was one simple motion.

"Persona!" The glass pane between his mind and reality shattered. A sense of bloodlust overwhelmed Yu, malice flowing throughout his entire body. He grimaced, not quite prepared for the onset of emotions. Afterall, only one of his Persona behaved like this. The oncoming corrosion collided with the young man head on. In one whirlwind of motion, a bladed polearm swung out from the cloud dispersing all of it. Its polished edge gleamed balefully under the starlight.

Yu watched as the Persona's cloak, tainted with filth, flared out in front of him. Of all the Persona to respond in his time of need, the Wild Card was surprised that this one had come forth. It held a familiar bladed staff in one hand, its grip reversed so that it appeared more a weapon of slaughter than a weapon of honor. A red hue shined off the being's entire body, only enhanced by the smell of rot emitting from its stained clothing. The feeling of death that emanated from its body even gave the frog-like monstrosity pause, which was watching in apprehension at this new arrival.

This Persona, much like its original owner, did not have an ounce of patience. It let out an agonizing roar that shook the earth, before it receded behind the shield of Yu's mind. As it disappeared, Yu felt the Persona's power seep into his very pores. He could feel a rush as his strength skyrocketed, as his speed and endurance soared far beyond that of human, and as his eyesight sharpened to unbelievable clarity. He smiled, waves of energy visibly pouring out of his body. _Heat Riser_ was the man's favorite move.

 _Thank you, Adachi._

Yu's thoughts were interrupted however, as the lizard knock-off rushed at him, climbing across the structures with absurd speed. Unlike before, this time Yu could see the monster as it made its way towards him. In one deft motion, he sidestepped the creature as it crashed into the earth next to him. An explosion of cement shrapnel bounced of Yu's now hardened skin as he ran from the beast, looking for a weapon. His eyes scanned quickly, before pinpointing his best option. Running to the edge of the construction site, Yu quickly took a tight hold of a street sign embedded in the sidewalk. With one vicious, enhanced kick, he broke it off from the base and flipped it in his hand. It was awkward and a bit less hefty than he was used to, but Yu supposed he did not have much of a choice.

The young man dove back into the fray, brandishing his improvised weapon as he would one of his broadswords or katana. The first swing landed, eliciting a cry from the monster as one of the edges of the sign caught and tore through its hardened skin. The next swing was just as effective as the first. This one knocked the monster back, as the steel pole the signs were connected to smashed into its throat.

Yu re-adjusted his stance and backed off. His enhanced state would not last for much longer, and he doubt he could injure the monster again, even if he used the strength granted by his Persona. Dropping the sign, Yu channeled his god given power once more. Now that he was focused, the blue wisps spun violently forming a tornado of energy around the young man. A card appeared above his open hand, spinning rapidly. He crushed it within his grip.

"Magatsu-Izanagi! Vorpal Blade!" He cried as he smashed the card. The Persona that represented the calamity of the world answered his call. Its serrated blade glistened with a need for destruction. It took one glance at the bleeding beast before it and in one smooth motion bisected the entire creature. The force of the blow was so strong, that it carried onwards, smashing into the corroded remains of building materials. In one strike, Magatsu-Izanagi had leveled the entire area.

Yu dismissed the Persona and collected himself. He exhaled deeply. He was _alive._ He had survived this ordeal. He sat down, resting his torn lungs and weary shoulders. Yu leaned his head back onto a pile of rubble behind him. He started laughing. He had no clue why, but he began laughing like a madman. It was just so outstanding to him!

 **Is This Truly So Marvelous?**

Yu cut short his celebration. He tentatively reached out to the voice. Was this Magatsu-Izanagi? His thoughts were interrupted as the voice chose to answer the question itself.

 **I Am Not The Mad Dog. Although Thy Hollow Self Had Been The First To Answer, All Of Us In The Sea Of Your Soul Were Ready To Aid You.**

"Then you are…" Yu asked quietly to himself. He had been so stupid. Just because his journey had ended, did not mean that his Persona were no longer with him. It was the power of the human soul. That which represented the bonds of his life.

Yosuke was still his best friend, distance be damned. He could feel Mada hum in agreement from the back of his mind. Chie was the most fun training partner he ever had in his life. Futsunushi slid to the forefront of his mind. Yukiko (and her horrid cooking) was someone he could never forget. Scathach chuckled lightly. Kanji, Naoto, and Rise were all still his adorable and lovable kohai. Odin, Norn, and Ishtar all chose to chime in, one after the other. And Teddie, his star. The lovable shadow may as well have been his own little brother. Helel shook its head, as if it could not believe that Yu had forgotten.

"Thou art I…" The boy started.

 **And I Am Thou.**

 **Forged From The Bonds You Hold, I Am The Conclusion Of Your Journey.**

 **The Light Which Brings The Truth To The Hearts Of Humanity.**

 **I Am The Dispeller Of Fog And The Creator Of All.**

 **Thus Is The Burden Of The World.**

 **Watashi Wa Izanagi-No-Okami.**

* * *

 **A/N: I don't know, I felt like doing an omage to the Crimson Lord and his fantastic fic A Demon Among Devils. So, things on my plate for next chapter. Probably stuff like discovering Rias is a devil and maybe some other twists. Igor too!**

 **Roses are Red, Violets are blue, Please do review.**

 **Omae wa mou shindeiru.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Super long A/N at bottom.**

Explaining why he had shown up in the middle of the night covered in bruises and scratches had been very difficult for Yu. It was not as though he could simply tell them the truth. Oh, your loving and caring son was doing battle with a supernatural and poisonous toad-lizard and beat it to death with a street sign. All the while being empowered by the manifestation of his psyche. Or, more specifically, the psyche of the serial killer that he had apprehended. Oh yeah, did he mention that he had fought a sociopath in a mystical world behind T.V. screens last year?

Yu reeled in his sarcastic thoughts. No, he did not tell his parents anything remotely close to what had actually transpired. He had simply told them that he had been mugged. Which gave him the perfect excuse for as why he had lost his bag and umbrella as well. As soon as the explanation left his lips, Yu's parents called every authority they could think of. They were a wealthy family so the response had been immediate. An ambulance had shown up so that Yu could be carted to the hospital, much to his annoyance.

Once they arrived, his parents ignoring the teen's protests, they were streamlined straight into an examination room. There a doctor performed a series of routine checkups while an officer that had been dispatched took his statement. Yu simply claimed that he did not remember, which was supported by the doctor's diagnosis of a concussion. The following questions from the police officer, however, left him wishing that he had just hidden his injuries.

"Now, you say that you have no recollection of your assaulter, Narukami-san?" He asked politely while he scribbled down some notes. Yu shook his head.

"Do you happen to remember if they did anything else?" The officer continued, before flipping over his pad to a new sheet. Yu shook his head once more. If anything, the officer's constant questioning was giving him a stronger headache than his actual head injury. Yu's mother grasped the teen's hand tightly before looking him dead in the eyes.

"Please tell the officer if anything happened, Yu. No matter what, your father and I will always love you." His mother said, her tears threatening to stream from her eyes. Yu's father was equally emotive in his own way. The man's usually stoic face was warped in a mix of restrained anger and concern. Yu shook his head again. He was completely confused as to why they were treating him in such a manner.

 **I Believe They Are Concerned About Your Chastity.**

Yu's calm expression was immediately replaced with a look of disgust. He physically reeled away from the thought. He turned back to his mother and told her in no uncertain terms that he was perfectly fine, emotionally and sexually. She responded by clutching the boy's head close to her chest, crying aloud about how horrible it was that he was in denial. His fighting spirit was succinctly destroyed in that moment.

As if the universe was not satisfied with Yu's emasculation, his attending physician walked in. The man wore the trademark white lab coat, scrubs and all. The doctor held in his hands Yu's key to escape. He coughed into his hand lightly, capturing the attention of everyone in the room. He walked over to the light up screen and posted two sets of images. He pointed to the first.

"So, according to your CAT scan, your concussion should subside after a day or two. I would recommend staying in bed for tomorrow, and seeing how well you feel afterwards." Yu nodded, relieved that his injuries were minor. While a Diarahan would have fixed up anything major, he really couldn't explain away the miraculous healing of brain trauma. The doctor then pointed at the other image, which contained various numbers and charts. The aged physician was visibly perturbed as he continued.

"And, at your parents' request, we ran the other tests. Everything seems normal, so I can say with complete certainty that you were not sexually assaulted tonight." He finished, while his parents let out a cheer at the good news. Yu groaned into his hands. Perhaps it was a side effect of being a Wild Card. He doubted anyone else had such sanity taxing relationships.

The entire Narukami family was dismissed from the hospital in short order afterwards. While a few scrapes and bruises had not healed properly, a few applications of medical tape from the nurse before he left settled the matter. Yu exited the hospital, somewhat supported by his mother at her insistence. His father had already gone to get the car. They stepped out into the spring night, before Yu's father pulled up and they got in.

The drive home was quiet. His parents had assured him that he could rest, and that they would take care of all his school issues before they left for work in the morning. Yu nodded. He had not noticed before, adrenaline was a very powerful suppressant, but he was utterly exhausted. He had wanted to rest much earlier, but his paranoia stopped him. It was a difficult thing to accept. That the real world held monsters as dangerous as Shadows. That he could be attacked at any moment.

Yu felt a sense of assurance from the back of his mind. No doubt to him that it was Izanagi. Yu sent back his feelings of gratitude before closing his eyes. He would have to rest anyways. Persona or not, the young man was not as resilient as he had been in the T.V. World, where the veneer between mind and matter was little more than a shredded curtain. He leaned deeply into his seat, eyes closing as he nodded off.

When he awoke, it was not because he had wished to. Rather, the sun had dipped in from his window and bombarded his face with unbearable heat. Yu licked his lips. He was completely parched. The sheets beneath him felt rough on his skin and his hands were sore. As he was rising out of bed a hand grasped his shoulder and pushed him back down. A cool towel was then laid on his head spreading relief throughout his body.

His voice came to him, throat clenching as he beseeched the hand for water. It disappeared from his side briefly before returning with a glass. Another hand gently caressed his head as he tilted his mouth to drink. Slowly, all the water in the glass made its way down his throat. As soon as he finished, it was pulled away. When his head hit the pillow again it warranted a groan of pain.

Yu's body was taxed to the extreme. It had been nearly a month since he had last summoned a Persona and like a muscle, his endurance had deteriorated. While he certainly wouldn't go around manifesting his psyche like a cheap trick, Yu resolved to at least get some practice in. He would be left for dead if his body collapsed in the middle of another stressful battle.

"Is everything alright?" Yu's head snapped to his bedside. That was definitely not his father and his mother's tone was lighter as well. The first sight that greeted his eyes was red hair. They trailed up until they met blue eyes. He closed his eyes. It was just a dream. At least, he hoped it was just a dream. If not, it would be the most realistic nightmare the young man ever had.

"Narukami-kun are you okay?" The girl asked once more before shaking the boy's shoulder. Yu opened his eyes. The same cerulean pair as before stared back intermingled with a sense of worry. He sighed and placed his hand on his head massaging his right temple.

"How did you get in my house?" The question was more a statement. An accusatory one at that. Rias chuckled in response. She brushed her bangs away from her face and smirked at him.

"Ara, most people would be head over heels to have such a beautiful young lady like myself tending to them in their time of need." She said airily. Yu stared at her. That...didn't answer his question at all. Rias continued grinning at him, her giddiness flashing in her eyes.

The other teen could not wait until the reveal of her master plan. Revenge was a dish best enjoyed at someone else's expense. That would show him, claiming victory on a technicality. Switching gears, Yu approached from a different angle.

"Who let you in my house?" It was an acute angle. Though the question was still fairly important to Yu. His mom had decided to take the day off of work to nurse him back to health. How the girl got past his mother was perhaps the most important question. Additionally, waking up to the victorious smirk of Rias Gremory was not doing his health any favors.

"Who? Your mother did of course. After I explained everything, she happily let me in." The irritating smirk wormed its way on to her face once more. Rias had successfully answered Yu's question without actually answering anything at all. Yu let his demeanor slip for a second as he exhaled deeply in frustration. There was no telling what the redhead had told his impressionable mother.

"What did you say to my mother?" The teen in bed asked. Although he already had an inkling as to what Rias had said. There were only so many reasons a young girl would be allowed to comfort a young man. Alone. In his room. Rias's beaming smile was beginning to contest the sun for dominance. She would finally be able to see Yu without his perpetual stoicness! She snapped herself out of her thoughts as his question had reminded her of one important factor. She stood up and stepped out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. Yu could hear her faintly through the crack.

"Honorable Mother! Yu-kun woke up!" The girl's peppy voice rang down the hall. He pondered her phrasing for a second. Just _what_ had the girl told his mother?! The soft thuds of two pairs of feet closed in on his room. His mother entered first, the woman's silver hair tied into a neat bun behind the headset she had been wearing. She apparently hadn't taken the day off completely.

Rias followed in shortly afterwards. However, her aura was different. Gone was the fiery heiress to an affluent family. In her place, was a demure princess. Her shoulders were slightly curled in and her hands were folded neatly in front of her. She even positioned her feet so that they were on top of each other in a nervous fashion. It was the most stunning example of acting Yu had ever seen in his life.

"Yu, it's good to see that you're finally awake. Though, I suppose with such a cute girlfriend keeping you company, it would be a shame to sleep!" His mother said jovially. Yu looked behind his mother to Rias. He was greeted by the girl pulling down her eyelid and sticking out her tongue. He refocused his attention on his mother.

"Mother, I have no idea who this crazy woman is." He delivered stone faced. Rias immediately countered with her own prepared rebuttal.

"B-B-But, Yu-kun, I confessed to you in front of the whole school! How could you forget? We even ate lunch together after you accepted!" Rias declared, her voice straining with faux heartbreak. Yu stared at her, thoroughly impressed. The redhead's acting chops rivaled those of Hollywood. His mother, on the other hand, was much less impressed and it showed.

"Yu, is this true?" She asked as she placed her hands on her hips. The look on her face was not one to be trifled with. Yu had seen it many times as a young child, when his father or himself were caught in the act. The aftermath was never pleasant. Yu looked her straight in the eyes.

"It's completely, utterly, without any shadow of a doubt-" Yu started, building up dramatic effect to get the point across. His eyes wandered over to Rias, looking for any sign of foul play. Of course he found it. The girl was never one to play fair. In her hands was her phone, and on that phone's screen was a very familiar scene from a different perspective. It seems that Rias's request had begun making its rounds on social media.

"-true. Rias Gremory is my girlfriend, mother. My concussion has seemed to have blurred my memory." He finished conceding his defeat. His mother searched him for any of his usual tells. She would not find any. She couldn't find what didn't exist. Being the Wild Card had made the boy a first rate liar, which was ironic considering his journey. His mother nodded before checking him over once more.

She raised his head and made him follow her finger with his eyes. It was a small procedure that the doctor had recommended to ensure Yu's safety. Satisfied with the results, his mother left the room. As she left, she let Yu know that she was heading back to work. An emergency had come up and now that he was awake and in good hands, she would be leaving until dinner. Yu checked his phone, noting that dinner would be hours away. Plenty of time to let his father know to come home early with takeout. Both Rias and Yu waved the hard working woman goodbye.

"Your mother is so nice! Did you know she offered me her wedding dress?" Rias asked happily. Yu turned to her. He had already figured out how to deal with the situation. And enact his own subtle plan of vengeance.

"Then I only suppose it's appropriate that you stay for dinner. My mother will be cooking tonight." The young man lied through his teeth. Rias's face immediately drained of all color. Her thoughts drifting back to yesterday and how the poisonous sludge had almost killed the silver haired teen. She turned to face him, her eyes devoid of any mirth.

"Yu-kun, we need to break up." Yu raised an eyebrow at her. Rias met his curious gaze with her own pleading one. It was one thing to pretend and act polite. It was another thing entirely for her to look the caring woman in the face and say that her cooking was delicious. That would be a lie that not even her brother, the greatest Satan, would forgive her for. Yu sensed her weakness and pounced on it.

"I'm sorry, Rias. My heart is simply too set on your beauty to let you go so easily." As soon as he finished the boy bit his tongue for its slip-up. The girl's gaze twinkled in delight. It was a force of habit on the boy's part. Chie, Yukiko and Marie were the only people that addressed him as such, and he addressed them on a first name basis as well. His mind had simply been caught in reflex.

"It's just 'Rias' now?" The girl asked, pointedly putting her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. Yu cursed internally. He would not let her win twice in a row.

"It's only fair. You called me by my first name." He shot back. The heiress backed off, signalling a draw for both parties. They both relaxed. Yu rolled himself back onto his bed as his sore body cried in happiness. Rias herself plopped herself at his desk, the chair rolling back as she sat down. She leaned back into it and began braiding her hair in the silence. Yu let out a deep breath, relaxing his body even further. Now that Yu had time to think, a stray thought occurred to him.

"There was a video?" He asked, curious as to how exactly it happened. He was sure that the hallway had been mostly clear by the time she formally made her request. It was also unusual that someone would be so rude as to record a private moment and make it a spectacle. Rias nodded in response.

"Yes. The poster was some second year boy. As soon as it hit the site, it circulated like wildfire. I'm sorry if it's caused you any trouble." She said genuinely. Yu nodded. The fact that it existed made things so much clearer. At least he now understood _why_ he was constantly getting death threats from the male population of his school. It didn't explain as to why he was getting threats from the _female_ population, but it was a start.

Yu stretched his hand over to his nightstand and gently snapped his phone into the small speaker. He scrolled through his music selection searching for one any song that caught his attention, as Rias watched on curiously.

Rias was relieved to say the least. When she heard from Sona that a normal human had taken on an A-ranked cleansing request by mistake, she was concerned. The stray devil Basi was one of the more powerful and evasive devils that lived in the area. It was likely that any human, magical or not, would be left as nothing more than a pool of liquid. When she later learned that it was Yu who took the request, Rias nearly vaporized Sona's pawn. The blond boy, Genshirou Saji, had never been so terrified in his life. Even Sona and Akeno were cowed by the sheer rage that flowed off her at the time.

She supposed it was a fortunate accident that Yu had gotten sidetracked. Because, even though he was hurt now, it was better than seeing him dead. Her phone vibrated in her pocket as Yu continued searching through his extensive music catalog. She pulled it out and read the notification.

 _Basi's body found at wreckage. Sliced in half. -Koneko_

Rias bristled. That had not been what she was expecting at all. Perhaps? She opened her senses and searched for any nearby magical signatures. It was not as easy as one would assume. It was akin to looking at an age old tarp. Sometimes there would be obvious inconsistencies in the fabric, which would equate to barely hidden magical power. Other times, it would be nothing more than a frayed end. She easily identified her brother's positioned guards. None of them had been in battle recently, meaning it was unlikely they had acted. Maybe one of Sona's family's servants had taken to rectifying the mistake.

She pulled her mind back into her body, somewhat exhausted by the exertion. As always, the humans around her barely even registered. She glanced at Yu who finally picked his song and set it to play. One song had caught Yu's attention, if only because he had not heard it in a long time. The opening was upbeat, and Rias quickly found herself lost to its melody. She didn't exactly know what one of the instruments were, but it complemented the lyrics perfectly. She had actually begun singing the chorus even though the entire song was in English. It ended slowly, the last few notes trailing in the air.

"That song… I haven't heard it before." She said. Yu nodded to himself as the song started playing again. He would have been surprised if she had heard it before. It had been Marie's last gift to him. Her last poem. He hadn't let himself think about her the past few days. The constant buzz of Rias's forceful personality had drowned out his grief.

In some ways he was thankful. In other ways, he hated all of it. It wasn't _right_ to forget about her. If he did, then it would be the same as if she had died. But the pain of losing her was terrible. He didn't want to move on without her. He didn't want to leave her behind. He wanted her to experience the life she was denied, with everyone at her side.

It was funny he supposed. Izanagi had left behind his wife because of his fear for himself. Yet Yu couldn't leave behind Marie behind because he feared for her. There was no telling what would happen if she awoke. Would she remember them? Would she remember him? Deep down, he prayed that the fates weren't so cruel.

"Yu? You're crying…" The boy wiped his sleeve on his eyes. The cloth dampened. He chuckled to himself. He had been crying and he hadn't even noticed. So many other questions ran through his mind as his thoughts drifted towards Marie. Although Teddie had told them all he could, there were still so many unknowns. Heck, he didn't even know if Marie would come back in this lifetime! Time was finicky at best in the T.V. World. As his mind stormed with possibilities, he hadn't noticed when a handkerchief had snuck into his personal space.

Rias dabbed the tears away a serene smile on her face. Internally, her emotions roiled beneath the surface as she struggled with her guilt. Rias had seen a side of the silver haired teen that she doubted even the boy's own parents had been privy to. She did not know how to handle someone who was in such a delicate state. So she improvised.

"You know, if other people saw us like this, they'd really think we're a couple." She joked lightly. He smiled back wryly. His heart ached, and his eyes burned. But that did not mean he would wallow in his own misery. That was not the truth he fought for. As Izanami-no-Okami had said, this was the path he had chosen, and he would not turn back even if it made him unhappy.

"We really should tell my mother the truth." He said, mood considerably lighter. Seeing that he was no longer plagued by his thoughts, Rias smiled back mischievously. She adopted her demure manner once again.

"But we've already told your mother the truth. You even made a big declaration of love for me…" Her voice came out in a pitiful imitation of a whine, as she could not hold back her laughter. Yu froze, his cheerful expression slowly dripping off his face leaving a distraught look in its wake. Rias committed that image to her memory. It would perhaps be the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. Thus Yu switched one set of depressing thoughts for an altogether far more depressing set of thoughts.

They sat together in comfortable silence afterwards. It was nice for Rias. She had never been able to just _enjoy_ being in someone else's company. She was raised from birth in a cut throat society that preyed on those weaker than them. There was little time to relax. That wasn't even considering that her brother was the leader of all of the Underworld's military forces. She hummed in thought, dismissing her previous reflections.

Today was an important day for her Peerage. Today would be the day she would get her Pawn. She had learned from her familiar that the boy she had been scouting as a Pawn, Issei Hyoudou, was confessed to by a fallen angel disguised as a schoolgirl. As Issei Hyoudou was a resident of a devil territory, they would have first dibs on the boy's sacred gear. No doubt that this was some ploy by the Fallen to take the boy out of action before he was reincarnated.

It mattered little either way to Rias. Should the Sacred Gear wielder die, then it would be easier to reincarnate him as it would cost her fewer pieces. A person's potential dramatically changes when confronted with death, after all. It may stunt his development magically if he was imbued with fewer pieces, but considering his position as a Pawn, it would not change much.

She sighed to herself. This was a dark line of thinking that she did not venture upon often. To casually weigh lives against her own personal gain. This was something far more natural to the devils of old. Those demons that drenched themselves in sin and consumed the souls of humans. It was in her blood, to dismiss the lives of those beneath her, but even so, Rias could not help but feel apprehensive. That was not how she was raised.

The Gremory family was renown for caring for their servants. That is to say, they still treated their servants as proper devils. The Gremory understood that even if they were servants, they were still living beings with dreams, emotions, and thoughts. That they still had the freedom of being their own master. There were many houses known for doing far less. Rias could not in good conscious condemn someone to servitude without consulting them first. It would be too cruel, to rip away their future in such a way. She sighed once more.

"So, what is making my gorgeous 'girlfriend' sigh so much?" Yu questioned with emphasis. He supposed that it would be easier to accept the inside joke for what it was, rather than trying to explain it to anyone else. At this point, he was fairly sure the amount of people who thought otherwise could be counted on his hands. Rias stuck her tongue at him in response. He chuckled. Rias let the boy settle down before answering.

"If something horrible happened to a stranger, and you benefitted from it, would you stop it from happening?" It was a question with valid moral ramifications. The seriousness of her tone sobered up Yu immediately. He did not understand the question's origins, but he already had his answer.

"Absolutely." The conviction in his response shocked Rias. She could not help but ask what made him so sure. Yu's steely gaze bore into her, as though it was examining her, searching for why she thought it so unnatural. Yu's stare softened before he answered.

"Humans are complex. " His words caused Rias to furrow her brow in confusion. He continued.

"To do something to our benefit is in our nature. After all, it has been ingrained in us since the beginning of history. But to convince ourselves that it is worthwhile to better ourselves at someone else's expense is denying reality. It is the convoluted thinking of a coward that tells us 'It's okay, it's not my problem'. I am not one to run from reality. That is why I am so sure." He said with the same resolve that he had against Izanami. It was his truth. The truth he learned on his journey.

He had so many chances to pull himself away from the Investigation Team, but not once did he falter. At the end, he had realized why. He had made it his desire to see the ugly truth at the end. Rias stared back at him, stars in her eyes. He rubbed his head sheepishly. Perhaps he had been too righteous in his reasoning.

"You sounded so cool, Yu! Just like an anime protag!" And like that, the serious tone was shattered. Yu smiled back at her, slightly thrown off by her abrupt shift. He had forgotten that she was an otaku on a level of her own. Now that he reconsidered his words, they _did_ seem a bit fantastical. But, considering where they came from, Yu supposed it was an inevitable consequence.

They chattered on for a while, before Rias took note of the time. She excused herself and made herself scarce. It was a combined effort of Yu's mother's cooking and her own plans that made her so quick to leave. Otherwise, she probably would have stayed the whole night just to talk. Her phone vibrated just as she rounded the corner out of view of Yu's home. She pulled it out. On it, was a sigil that was extremely familiar to her. She channeled her power into it, and vanished with a flash of red light.

As the light died down around her, her nose was filled with the scent of blood. She glanced down. As she had suspected, a brown haired boy laid there. A gaping wound sat in the center of his chest, its maw gushing with the red liquid. One of the flyers that her familiar had handed out was clenched tightly in the teen's hand. The boy had likely died a few minutes before she had arrived. Her thoughts meandered as she channeled the power necessary to reincarnate the boy. 8 Pawn pieces.

A feeling of guilt stirred in her gut. She quashed it with little effort. As Yu had said, humans were complex creatures. She supposed it was fortunate that she was a devil.

* * *

Yu had drifted into slumber shortly after Rias had left. Even though he wasn't gravely injured, he was still exhausted and did have a concussion. His head hit the pillow with little ceremony as his eyes drifted shut. He could feel his consciousness being forcefully dragged beneath the influence of sleep. His breathing deepened and he let himself go.

With a jarring shake, he came to. It was not in his own bed, but a very familiar car. A _very_ familiar car. A small amount of light shone in through the car's windows, making the colors in the car dance. A fine deep blue upholstery covered the car's seats and the rest of its cabin. Across from him sat a small table. At the table was a man. A man he would never forget, with a very long nose. To the man's right sat a woman. Her silver hair and regal features made her very hard to forget. This was The Velvet Room.

"It's nice to see you again, Igor, Margaret." He greeted, none of his previous exhaustion weighing in his voice. He couldn't even feel it anymore, actually. Igor smiled back at him, and Margaret just grinned, far more emotive than before. She waved at him before Igor answered.

"It is nice to see you as well, dear guest." The woman's deadpan voice responded. She still had trouble being expressive in some areas. Yu glanced around the limo once more. Not a single thing had changed. It truly was beyond existence.

"I believe you are curious as to why we have called you here?" Margaret asked him. Yu nodded. The attendant motioned towards Igor. The man had not spoken since he had arrived which was unusual. In one smooth motion, the man pulled out his deck of Tarot card. Yu stilled.

"I see you are familiar with these cards. These are indeed the same ones." The man's hoarse voice confirmed. Yu stared at the cards with caution. After all, this was the same deck that determined his fate in Inaba.

"Do not fear. As I have said earlier, your journey has been concluded. Consider this nothing more than a warning, as a friend." The old man said disarmingly. Yu waited, not daring to breathe.

"You have stumbled across the hidden truth of the world. The reality of these entities is a dangerous one. At behest of my attendant, and of my own Master, we of the Velvet Room have felt it best you were prepared for what you may face." Yu nodded. The man laid out his deck and began the reading. The first card was drawn and placed.

"The Magician in its upright position. A symbol of many things. The most prominent meanings being skill, diplomacy, subtlety and the pain of loss." The man drawled out.

"Your skills learned from your journey will serve you well, but perhaps not in the manner you may believe." The teen's mind recorded the information, but it was poignantly stuck on one thing. The pain of loss. It could only mean one thing. The next card was divined.

"The Hermit in its upright position. I fear that this may bode ill for you. It represents prudence and circumspection, but most importantly, it specifically forecasts treason or betrayal." The old man rumbled onwards, inflection serious. He drew the final card. The old man took a sideways glance before chuckling and placing it down.

"My, how curious." He said with an amused smirk.

"What's wrong?" Yu asked. His fists tightened in anticipation. Even with this impromptu meeting, he still felt his future was uncertain. Because even though Igor's previous reading was correct, there was no way to predict how reality actually functioned.

"It is simply a passing thought," The old man said before placing the final card on the table, "The Aeon, in its reversed position. In the normal tarot decks, the Aeon arcana is the duality of the Judgement Arcana. In its upright position, it represents the end, and the beginning of a new era. The uncertainty of starting anew. However…"

Yu waited, hanging off of Igor's every word. He knew how tarot cards worked. He had to at this point, given their prominence in his life. The drawings came in sets of three with each card representing a future event. Some cards would come from the deck flipped upside down. This meant that they would be "ill received", or represent something far more sinister. It was not lost on him, that Aeon was the same Arcana that contained his Social Link with Marie.

"In the reversed position, The Aeon is a foreboding message. It means that your past will come to haunt you. Whether it is a result of a lesson unlearnt, or a desire to move on, the past will trap you in its clutches until you are truly ready to move on. That is why I find it so curious. To be given the reversed Aeon even now after your journey. Truly, you are an intriguing guest." Igor hummed in thought, his hand rubbing his chin as he stared at the card.

Yu, however, was nowhere near as impressed with the card. If anything, it was an insult to him. An insult to the efforts of the Investigation Team. It was denial plain and simple. If it was pulled from Igor's deck, than it was likely to be true, but for it to say that he had not learned his lesson...it filled him with rage. He opened his mouth to argue, before Margaret placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"It is not Master Igor's fault. He is merely a mouthpiece of the fates in this case, his own rude commentary aside." The assistant assured him, while sending a glare at the proprietor. Igor coughed into his fist, hiding his embarrassment as Yu's seething slowly receded.

"Is there anything else?" He asked, his rage seeping into his voice. Igor and margaret merely shook their heads in negative. Yu sighed in frustration.

"There is one non-related matter however. As I said earlier, your journey is completed. As such, us denizens of The Velvet Room can no longer assist you. My apologies. This will likely be the last time we see each other." Yu nodded and waved away the Igor's concerns. He had suspected as much. He slouched into the couch, trying to absorb all that he had been told. Just, what was going on? Was what he discovered truly so dangerous? And the ominous tone of the readings made his head spin. If possible, this seemed more daunting than before.

He exhaled and steeled his resolve. No, it _was_ more daunting. Because now he knew just exactly how accurate Igor's fortunes were. Skill, diplomacy, and subtlety. Betrayal. Ghosts of his past. That was not even factoring in how Marie played a role.

 **Do Not Worry. No Task Is Too Large For Us. For We Are All Behind You.**

He smiled. He would face this like he always did. With two parts caution and three parts courage.

"It seems, that our time here is up. The waking world is calling out to you, my dear guest." Margaret gently caressed his cheek. In one abrupt motion, Yu disappeared from the Velvet Room, only to wake up in his bed. It was 6 o'clock in the morning. He sighed. He had not felt rested in the least.

 **A/N: Super long note. So some meta stuff first. Chapter's shorter than usual. Feels like it fits my want for the pacing better. Expect shorter chapters or longer breaks when school starts up again. First time the scene abruptly shifted from one perspective to another, denoted by page break. I won't be doing that much in this story even though I love it for my other stories. The tone for this chapter was a bit more comedic than usual, let me know if it was too much.**

 **Story stuff. Igor's back. Sorta. Kinda. Not really. He just told Yu that shit's about to get real, and to strap in for it. And, *little spoiler* if my internal head plot line is to be trusted, shit will get real in a couple chapters.**

 **So, as you can see, Persona users can't sense devils, and vice versa. I might explain why this happens in my own headcanon but whatever, idk. Unless you guys want some back story for that. Maybe I'll fit it in somewhere. Let me know in reviews (Pls don't pm me, sorta annoying.)**

 **Spoiler stuff. So, here we see the beginning of Rias's internal conflict to resolve what she's learned from living in the human world and from living as a devil. One of the things I always never had taken note of was that there are no cultural difference between the two in any stories.**

 **I think the closest I've ever seen was in "A Demon Lord's Hero" (A FS/N crossover with DxD) in which the author explains that devils were just hiding behind a facade of civility. I feel that I touched upon it, maybe heavy handed? This chapter. It will be expanded upon in the Ultimax/Golden Week/Rating Game Arc which will probably be after I finish up the introductions. Issei and Asia next.**

 **Read and Review. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Long A/N at bottom as always. Read and Review :D**

Yu stared at the wall. On the wall was the same board that had led him to this predicament. On that board, was another flyer. Unlike before, Yu could now properly read the advertisements. One specific advert was in his view. It was similar to the first, with large emblazoned words, and what he now determined was a rank in the form of a grade. What he could see that was different, however, was a small box that entailed a description of the job and its requester. He had no clue as to why.

 **Illusions Are But The Realization Of Lies. Your Heart Is Not So Weak As To Fall For The Petty Tricks And Workings Of Monsters.**

The resounding voice of his Ultimate Persona cleared up the confusion well. It was reassuring to Yu that he could not be affected by such a subtle and possibly insidious magic. Though, in retrospect, being able to see the box helped little when he tried to make sense of the one he was reading.

The current flyer was not one of any import. The rank was a far cry from the one he had accidentally taken. In fact, if not for the odd stylization, Yu would have assumed it was some student's prank. It had a large letter "D" printed next to it, and a single line in the job details.

 _Please turn Mil-tan into a magical girl!_

He stared blankly at the sheet. What kind of deranged and depraved new world had he unknowingly wandered into? Idle thoughts ran through his mind, trying to determine the meaning behind these words. A multitude of common ciphers taught to him by Naoto were the first things he tried, but they yielded no sensible messages. A stray hand interrupted his thoughts as it entered his field of view and snatched the flyer off the wall.

Yu watched as another boy, one eerily familiar to him, studied the job description closely. A lopsided grin accompanied by a trail of drool fastened itself on the brown haired boy's face. It was fairly easy to guess what the boy was thinking about. After all, the other teen was a notorious person in the school. It had taken a while, but Yu had finally found out the names of his second year harassment squad. One of which was the teen before him. Issei Hyoudou was this boy's name, and a member of the Perverted Trio of Kuoh Academy. Yu studied the boy some more. Perhaps Yosuke had a cousin he neglected to mention.

The other boy finally snapped himself out of his delusion and his eyes met Yu's own. They widened in surprise, before a shaking hand pointed at Yu accompanied by the sophomore's jaw dropping. It took a few seconds, but a look of enlightenment flashed across the boy's eyes. He let out a strangled noise, a cross between a gasp and an accusation before his jaw clenched shut. The brown haired student's eyes hardened, and his gaze turned deadly.

"Narukami-senpai! You already have a girlfriend, so leave some for the rest of us unfortunate men!" A few passerby students gave them odd looks at that declaration. Though, from the amount of glares being sent Yu's way by the male populace, he felt that perhaps it was better to not say anything about the misconception. Yu watched as the teen leaned towards him, and continued their conversation in conspiratorial fashion.

"You may be a high-class devil, but there's no way that I'll let a riajuu like you will lose his virginity before I do!" The teen challenged. Yu was completely and utterly clueless as to what his junior was talking about. Though, as an afterthought, he supposed it would be better if he _didn't_ have any idea as to what his junior was talking about. That way lie madness. It did not however, stop Yu from responding automatically in his totally nonchalant matter. The words left his mouth before he even registered them forming.

"But I'm not a virgin…" He said quietly in response. The memories were buried, but they were some of his most cherished. After all, that had been a very special night with Marie on Valentine's day. They hadn't gotten to spend Christmas together, and he wanted to make his memories of Inaba joyful. Little did he know that Marie had planned the same. It was plain and clumsy, yet he would never forget that night. So lost was he in thought that he did not realize the effect his words had on the students around him.

Although his words were whispered, to the rest of the courtyard, it may as well have been as loud as a gun going off. Instantly, idle chatter around them was silenced, and many new hushed whispers took place. Yu groaned. Sometimes, he hated how his wandering mind left him on autopilot. Issei once again reverted to the bumbling and stumbling of a man unable to accept the reality presented before him.

"T-T-Then you a-and B-Buchou?" Issei asked Yu, voice interlaced with an odd tone that Yu could not exactly place. The silver haired teen sighed to himself and massaged the bridge of his nose. He did not even know anyone referred to as 'Buchou'. He waved the boy off, and walked away as he threw a glance over his shoulder while heading to class.

"Think whatever you want." He said simply before heading off, ignoring the new looks of appraisal from the thousands of students around him. He stepped into the school as soon as the first bell of the day rang. By lunchtime, Yu would be regarded as a hero. By the end of school, a god. Such was the power of rumors.

The first few set of classes were rather easygoing for our hero. He had studied far beyond the required material in preparation for his college entrance exams. Although Kuoh Academy did have a prestigious college course available for those capable, Yu was planning on attending Tokyo U. It was a lofty goal, but being able to graduate from such a school would guarantee the freedom in life he desired. He pulled out his lunch as soon as the bell rang, hoping to finish it early so he could use his free time to talk to the Investigation Team. That was, until a _very_ disheveled Rias walked through the door of his classroom.

The red haired girl dragged herself to the desk in front of him, turned it around haphazardly and dropped her bottom in the seat. It was quite startling for Yu. He had not seen her for the past few days because apparently she was handling the induction of someone to her club, The Occult Research Club. The Persona user did not realize that Rias was even the president of her club until she had mentioned it in passing. Although Yu personally did not find the occult interesting, which was ironic, he felt that it was oddly suited to Rias's taste. A comment from this morning entered his mind. The dots connected like a flash of lightning. It appears that Yu _did_ know someone who could be referred to as Buchou.

"Ah, I suppose it is my turn to apologize." He said grinning sheepishly. It would only be right to do so after this morning's incident, thought Yu. Rias's expression did not even change. Normally, Yu would not be so rude to snap his fingers in front of another's face, but something about the girl's dead gaze was greatly unsettling the third year. So with one quick flick of his fingers, he awoke the heiress out of her stupor. He was greeted with eyes filled with pain, regret and sorrow. The emotion expressed was one filled with a melancholy that would only be found in the most hardened of war veterans.

"I am _so_ sorry." The girl said to him, her normal pluckiness replaced by a far more ominous tone. Yu stared at her in confusion. He had originally thought that her unkempt state was the result of what he had accidentally said this morning. The girl as though reading Yu's mind shook her head. Then with a small gesture, she motioned to behind the boy.

Yu made to look around but was stopped by a slender arm wrapping itself around his shoulders. A soft force pushed into his back as he felt something rest itself upon his crown. Dark long hair fell in tresses around him, pooling at his shoulders. He had no doubt that its owner was responsible for Rias's current state, which had only seemed to deaden further. A lofty voice floated past his ear.

"Ara, so you're the one that she's always talking about…" Rias was the first of the two seated students to react. She stared into the eyes of the other girl.

"Akeno. Off. Now." She growled. Yu felt the other person slowly unwrap from him before drifting into his field of view. Once he had a good look at her it was easy for him to deduce who she was. Rias had mentioned her many times in passing and his own eavesdropping habits made her identity clear.

"It's nice to meet you, Himejima-San." He greeted politely. In return, he received a beautiful smile accompanied by some girlish giggling.

"Ah, no wonder. I suppose even I would have trouble keeping you to myself. You're exactly as described." Yu raised a questioning eyebrow to the brunette's statement. Akeno his a smirk behind her hand before pointing towards the redhead seated across from Yu. Rias directed her attention to the windows, too embarrassed to participate in the conversation. Yu muffled his own chuckle as well.

"I do hope I satisfied your expectations." He responded while smiling brightly. Akeno smiled back. Swooping close to him, she drew her face near his and placed her hand on his chest.

"Oh you've certainly _surpassed_ what I expected," she purred as her face drifted even closer. Yu laughed lightly in response. He was extremely well versed in this type of social interaction. Sayoko had not gone easy on him when he worked under her. Of course, that also meant he was capable when it came to disarming the bombshell known as Akeno Himejima. He turned to Rias.

"Thank you for the kind words." While he was capable of fending off the girl's flirtatious introduction, that did not mean Yu _wanted_ to. It was far more entertaining to pass the buck to his friend and watch her struggle. Just as any true friend would.

"You're welcome." The redhead replied automatically. She had not even turned away from watching the clouds to respond. Akeno, always the one to cause mischief, caught on quite quickly. A smirk stretched across her face, ounce for ounce matching Yu's grin. Rias who had finally tuned back into the conversation finally realized what she had said. Or rather, what she had confirmed.

"I-I-I mean, w-what are you talking about? I don't talk about you at all!" She denied vehemently. Rias hoped that her rebuttal would soothe the two beasts before her. The predatory grins quickly disabused her of that notion.

"I can almost hear the baka~ at the end!" Akeno said stifling her own laughter. Watching Rias try to lie had always been a favorite past time of the dark haired Queen piece. It was mostly because the poor redhead would become flustered beyond belief in her own righteousness. Truly adorable.

"I suppose she would fit that trope. Rich, tsundere, and a foreigner right?" Yu questioned trying to hide his own mirth. Rias gasped at the implication.

"I am so not a tsundere! Besides, if anyone fits a trope it's you Yu-kun." She said accusingly. Both of the two teasing teens stalled in their snickering. They sat in anticipation as Rias clarified her statement.

"I mean, you're like the perfect guy!" She explained with a huff. She raised her nose to the both of them while crossing her arms. Mentally, Yu counted down the seconds. Rias's eyes widened in realization.

"Wait no, that's not what I meant!" Akeno could not hold her laughter for a moment longer. A second later Yu's own joined the girl's airy tune with his own smooth voice. Rias stared at the two of them feeling utterly betrayed.

"I meant that you're like an endgame protagonist! Like, you always know what to say and you do it super cool like you have some audience to impress!" Their combined laughter only grew as Rias continued explaining. Yu personally thought that perhaps they were being disruptive, but Rias was simply too hilarious to tease for the teen to care. Akeno's peals of laughter slowly faded into chuckles as she calmed herself. However, the massive self satisfied smirk appeared to be glued to the girl's face.

"Well, if Rias is so adamantly denying you, then would you mind allowing me to console you in your rejection?" Akeno asked formally, as though she were imitating a noble lady. Yu had to stifle his laughter once more as he watched Rias's face tighten. She looked anguished, as though some pertinent toy had been denied from her. He laughed harder at his own mental image of the situation.

"I'm sorry, but I must decline." He answered neutrally through his mirth. Rias's ice cold glare softened as Akeno's own gleeful smirk faded. But neither could not bare to let his comment go. Akeno out of her own insatiable nosiness and Rias for her own reasons.

"Is there a reason why?" Akeno prodded. Yu felt their curious gazes as they waited for him to finish explaining his reasoning. He awkwardly laughed at the inquiring girls, not in the least willing to continue this line of conversation. They both deflated at his deflection and lunch resumed as usual. It was a relatively uneventful lunch after that bout of teasing, and the period ended soon afterwards amongst the chattering of the three seniors. The day drifted on after lunch, and eventually the final class ended.

The silver haired teen made his way through the cacophony of the students in the hall. It wasn't unusual for the crowds of teens to be so absurdly loud after the school day ended. It was a signal of freedom after all. Yu marched his way out the front gates of the school, and down the street. He took up a brisk pace and jumped on the first bus he could get a hold of. A short while later, he found himself in the same warehouse district where he had first been attacked. He had not noticed it before, but the ominous sense of foreboding and the pressure on his heart was now non-existent. Perhaps it was a side-effect of the monster's presence.

Yu had come back to the area for one reason. To investigate. While he did not have his team members with him, the skills he had picked up in Inaba were still useful in this situation. The most important of all clues, would be the actual body of the monster itself. If he could find out something about its biology, or magic- for it certainly had to be magical- then he could at least prepare himself for the next fight.

Consulting his mental map, the young man turned away from the bus stop and entered an alleyway on his right. It was much brighter now that he had gotten here before the sun had set. Retracing his steps, he made his way down the twists and turns, eventually settling before the fence that he had climbed to escape. To his surprise, Yu found a bright green tarp hung behind the fence, blocking all vision of the construction site that the battle had taken place in.

Pulling out a pen, he gave it a quick tap on its end before a blade popped out of the front end. Normally, Japanese laws were extremely strict when it came to weaponry. However, there were a few ways around it. Loopholes that Yu was more than willing to exploit. While it wasn't a suitable weapon, the hidden knife still had enough of a blade that it could be used as a deterrent. In one smooth motion, he jabbed the pen through the links in the fence before dragging its sharpened tip along the tarp. It was tedious work, for the tarp was thick and made of nylon, making the small knife an improper tool.

Eventually, he had cut enough of a slit for the teen to peek his eye through the hole. He placed the pen back in his pocket before taking a look. He took one glance and his train of thought halted. Not a single speck was out of place on the construction site. In fact, it looked as though it had been more completed than when he had destroyed it in his fight. He pulled his head away, before shaking his head and peering through once more. No, this was reality. Steeling his nerves, the Wild Card stepped back before leaping onto the fence and pulling himself over.

He landed with a soft thud amidst the silence of the site. Although the steel structure was now standing and not a pile of rubble, there was no sign of any workers or construction equipment. It was unsettling. Walking slowly, he paced himself around the entirety of the area. Nothing stood out to him as overtly odd or strange as he examined the girders. He flicked one of them and the expected clear ping of steel was all he received in response. Curiouser and curiouser.

 _Whatever cleaned up this place is well practiced. I can't find anything that would signal that it was destroyed. I wonder if-_

A hand grasped onto his shoulder and Yu spun around immediately. In one violent motion, his right hand was clasped tightly around a throat. A swirl of blue energy coated his body, and coalesced into a blue tarot card that rested in his left hand, waiting to be broken. He could feel the thrum of power beneath his skin as he prepared himself for battle. His Personas all rose to the forefront of his mind.

"N-N-Naruk-a-ami- s-senpai!" A voice croaked out as two hands quickly grasped onto his wrist. Finally getting a good look at his "assaulter", Yu realized that he may have overreacted. Issei Hyoudou was an idiot, not a monster. The two hands began pounding on his forearm, and the other teen began foaming at the mouth. Quickly releasing his grip, Yu let the other teen finally catch his breath. A loud session of sputtering and coughs preceded what was most likely going to be an awkward conversation. After a few moments to catch his breath, the brown haired junior finally pulled himself to his feet.

"Jeez Narukami-senpai! What the hell was that for? Just because I'm a low-class doesn't mean you can abuse me like that!" Issei cried out while tenderly rubbing his throat. Yu cleared his own throat in embarrassment. It was not like him to be so jumpy, especially not when in enemy territory. He was more rusty than he thought.

"You startled me." He said deadpan.

"Startled you my ass! That was like, some Street Fighter response! I thought I was going to die!" Issei accused, his voice ringing out and echoing in the empty construction site. "You were glowing blue and everything! I thought I was gonna get hit by a god damned Hadouken!"

Tactfully, Yu decided to change the subject. Specifically, to one that was bothering him since this morning.

"That's the second time you've referred to class. What do you mean?" He asked. Issei caught off guard by the question took a moment to collect his thoughts before answering.

"Well, you're a high-class devil like all the other popular kids in school, right?" The younger teen responded. Yu stared at him confused. Devil?

 **It Seems We Have Found A Member Of This Secret Society. Answer Him. Mayhaps We Will Be Enlightened.**

"Yes, I am. I was just surprised that you would go around just openly saying so." He said coolly. Issei scratched his cheek sheepishly before grinning at the older teen.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess...I'm just super excited about being a devil is all." Issei answered. Yu raised an eyebrow at this response. After all, the only knowledge he had of devils had been from his Persona, and the Biblical term. They were beings of sin and destruction. It was strange that a fifteen year old high school student would be excited about being such a creature. Isse took Yu's silence as an invitation to explain himself.

"Well, I mean, once I graduate to a high-class devil I can have a peerage. And with a Peerage I can become a Harem King!" Yu filed this information away in his mind to be examined at a later date. Peerage had many definitions, the most common being a group of one's peers as attributed to the status of nobles. In essence, it denoted a society based on a hierarchy of nobility.

"I see…" He said as he considered his next question. There was so much information he needed, but he could not ask it so brazenly. Yu did not want Issei growing suspicious of him because he asked a question about common knowledge.

"So, was that blue glow like a Sacred Gear or a spell?" Issei asked, interrupting Yu's ponderings. Yu glanced at his companion.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, feigning as though he did not hear him. Magic and spells were familiar. Personas used the esoteric arts. But he could not pinpoint what exactly a 'Sacred Gear' was.

"Is that blue card like a spell or a Sacred Gear? I don't think non-reincarnated devils can have Sacred Gears though…" The boy repeated himself before mumbling the last thought. Yu replied neutrally, continuing the charade through half truths.

"It is something unique to me." And in a sense, it truly, truly was. Issei nodded to himself, accepting the answer at face value. However, a flash of something crossed the younger teen's face.

"Wait, were you the one who killed that A-Ranked stray? Kaichou's still trying to figure out who did it. Why didn't you collect the reward?" Yu stared at him, a nervous sweat building on the back of his neck. It was a difficult question after all. If Yu was a high-class member of the Devil world, than he had no reason not to claim the reward. So he opted for a different type of response.

"I don't really need a reward or want recognition." He responded. Hopefully Issei would mistake that as a cue to keep quiet on the situation. Issei nodded while stroking his chin.

"Of course. Of course." He said. Yu sighed in relief.

"AS IF! No way you're that badass Narukami-senpai!" The other teen shouted in disbelief somewhat startling Yu out of his relaxed state.

"High-class or not, Buchou said it'd take her full Peerage to take down someone that strong." The other teen called out Yu's bluff. Yu readied his fingers to snap on the card still in his hand. If this went wrong, he had no idea how the situation would pan out. But he would rather be prepared if need be. The younger teen settled down after his outburst.

"Just because you're high-class doesn't mean you have to pretend to be cool to me, Narukami-senpai. I mean, aren't you Buchou's boyfriend already? There's no reason to show off anymore." The other boy said sagely. Yu frowned at the insinuation.

"Besides, if you _were_ actually that badass how the hell do you expect someone like me to be a Harem King with you around?!" Immediately Yu's frown was replaced with a look of annoyance. As Issei continued on his rant about the unfairness of super strong pretty boys, and the inconsistencies of the world, a stray thought crossed Yu's mind.

 _He and Teddy should never meet._

Many of the Personas in the Sea of Souls agreed. Yu honestly couldn't tell what would be worse. A Ted ranting about Harems (which was honestly not far from reality), or an Issei ranting about such a bishounen stealing his dream. He could already feel the encroaching headache. Finally noticing the color of the sky, Yu checked his watch. He had been investigating far longer than he expected. He turned to Issei and interrupted his rant with a short goodbye before walking towards the front of the construction site and exiting on to the main road. As he walked away, he thought more about their conversation. It answered as many questions as it raised.

A society of Devils that was capable of completely wiping away traces of its existence. Combined with what he learned about a system of Peerage and the concept of high and low class devils, it seemed as though it was a world still stuck in the medieval ages with great skill in magic. Then there was the term 'Sacred Gear'. He still had no clue as to what it could possibly be, but just given by its description it was likely some form of holy relic. Or in a devil's case, unholy relic. But most importantly…

 _Sona Shitori is a Devil. And it's likely that Rias…_

He could not finish the sentence. She was his friend. The first friend he made here. And he could not honestly say that their friendship was a weak one. It was quite the opposite, even if it was in so far a short one. Often, Yu expected the crash of a Social Link rank up to interrupt his thoughts whenever they conversed. No, he would withhold judgement. Devil or not, Human or not, Rias was important to him. He would give her the benefit of the doubt.

* * *

Issei walked back towards the clubhouse to report his findings. It was an odd experience with Narukami-senpai. He actually hadn't talked to the third-year much, and he honestly expected him to be haughty like other third-years or regal like Kiba. It was refreshing to see that he was a cool guy. And disheartening to see that he was actually super cool. He wasn't just complaining when he was ranting about the unfairness of overpowered bishounen.

Although, he had lied once in his conversation. Oh, yes, Issei had lied and tried to play it off. He completely believed that Narukami-senpai had slaughtered the stray devil singlehandedly. It was the glint in his eye, the sheer terror it instilled in the young Harem King's heart, while Yu held him by his throat. Issei would have died and there would have been nothing that would save him.

Then there was that blue card. It was so obviously magic. But at the same time, he didn't sense _anything_. Even as a freshly reincarnated Devil, he had ingrained instincts that alerted him to magic use. And the card gave off nothing. No acrid taste of burning power, no fuzzy-headedness associated with illusion, nothing. It scared the brown haired teen.

The entire event had disturbed Issei on a base level. It was far too close to _then_. The feeling of drifting into unconsciousness would forever elicit feelings of terror. Because, unlike _then,_ he might not wake up again. It scared him, although he would never admit it. Issei would rather forget that chapter of his life in its entirety. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. What reason was there to dwell on such horror? After all, Buchou had saved him, and Issei would forever love her for that. He was alive now and that was all that mattered. He was knocked out of his thoughts as he accidentally bumped into someone.

"Ooph!" A feminine tone cried out. All of a sudden Issei's existential thoughts were halted because his vision was filled with a glorious sight. His eyes bulged as he finally registered the view.

 _White Panties!?_

* * *

 **A/N: Shorter than usual, college is back on. I want to say that maybe a chapter every other week is probably going to be the fastest update rate. Maybe faster during spring break. Uh, also I want to do a Dark Souls and RWBY crossover sometime soon. That'll bump my currently updating stories up to 3 or 4 depending on how much inspiration I get for one of the others that I'm debating putting on Hiatus.**

 **So, what happened this chapter. Issei gets some wrong ideas and Yu becomes a legend in the school. We introduce Akeno as Rias's best friend/ teasing sister. Yu joins in on the teasing. Then, Yu decides to re-investigate the scene of the crime. Instead, we get the result of the Devils doing their erase memory and damage thing and he runs into Issei. Almost kills him out of paranoia.**

 **Then Issei reveals some things that Yu would have rather not known and now he has to confront Rias eventually. Then finally, we get some insight into Issei's view of the conversation. I will probably be doing a mainly Issei focused chapter next, with some side drama of Rias and Yu. Note: Probably. Things might change. After all, the confrontation was supposed to happen this chapter but didn't fit the pacing.**

 **So, finally, there is Issei's character development. This is semi-spoilerish. Basically, I'm going to be doing a large focus on the fact that he** _ **died**_ **. Because, you know what? Dying fucks you up. Hell, even just being heavily wounded fucks you up mentally, let alone coming back from the grave. Of course, Rias is not heartless, and there will be emotional and gut wrenching bad feelings and guilt that will be resolved eventually.**

 **Other peerage members? Sometime next chapter. It's probably going to be the Save Asia thing. You know. The 'This Has To Be Here For Plot Relevance Thing'. Later.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Read and review. As always longer author note at bottom.**

Rias furrowed her brow. Then her hand came up and gently rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Issei, I _forbid_ it." She stated once again calmly. It had been a trying past hour for the young princess and her Pawn piece. Personally, she blamed herself for being unable to bring herself to explain the full circumstances. It would destroy the younger teen if he knew the truth.

"But Buchou, Asia's harmless! Besides, I'm a devil now! I can take on anything." The boy rebutted. Rias sighed once more. She could see through the false bravado the boy put up. It wasn't difficult to discern the cracking tone of his voice or the times he would often swallow his words out of some perceived fear. Rias wasn't one to let someone suffer, but she would not solve Issei's problem for him. Until he asked for help, she would simply have to refute him and restrain the possibility of dangerous situations.

"Look, Issei, I wouldn't warn you if I didn't have a reason right?" She questioned softly. The boy nodded in response, caught off guard by the sudden shift in tone. Rias was trying her hardest to be sincere. She loved her peerage, but she could not let him so brazenly go "hang out" with a nun.

"Then please understand. I _will_ explain it to you, I promise, but you haven't even been a devil for more than a week. This isn't exactly something that can be said in three minutes." She continued gently. She had good reasons for forbidding him. If the girl turned out to be more than a nun, while unlikely, it would no doubt be the death of Issei. And not so simply death, but the utter erasure of his existence. No soul, no reincarnation, not even a wisp of smoke to remember him by. She would not place that burden of fear on the young man's shoulders so soon after he had gotten revived. Issei's face screwed into a grimace before adopting a neutral expression.

"Alright Buchou, I trust you." Issei nodded and left. As he pulled close the clubhouse door, he heard Rias thank him for his understanding. The boy stepped out and took a few steps before slamming his hand against the old school wall. It didn't make much noise. He pulled his hand back and controlled his breathing. He ran both hands through his hair repeatedly before turning around and plopping himself on the ground, his back to the wall. He cradled his head in his hands for a bit longer and let out a long suffering sigh.

Issei was not happy. No, that wasn't completely true. Rather, he was just frustrated. This past week had done more than taken a toll on his peace of mind. Being introduced to the reality of the hidden world via a violent and bloody death really ruined the sense of wonderment that was supposed to come with it. Why couldn't a giant hairy man have just told him he was a wizard?

No, instead he was dealt a ration of paranoia everywhere he walked. Was the man who sold him his mags a devil? And what about his friends and family? They didn't even know he _died._ Would it have mattered to them? Should he tell his parents? Questions like these ran through Issei's head daily since his reincarnation. Of course he never acted on them. And he doubted he ever would. After all, it wouldn't be right to burden Buchou with his problems. She had saved his life…

He let out another sigh, this one reverberating through the old school building. His thoughts drifted to the crux of the problem as he picked himself up and walked himself down the hallway. Issei Hyoudou, the human who loved breasts was dead. In his place was Issei Hyoudou, Pawn of Rias Gremory, wielder of a 'Sacred Gear', a tool of God's design, yet here he was. Still being treated with kid gloves. He scoffed.

Rias constantly tiptoeing around him, never wanting to fully explain his position. Always tidbits of "trust me" and "please listen". Issei fully believed she had good reasons, but even he could only blindly follow for so long. Akeno and Koneko were not much better. They would never bring it up, but he could see it in their eyes. That morbid curiosity. _What was it like to die?_ It bounced on the edge of their tongues, he could tell. But they kept their distance as well.

Ironically, of all the people he expected to bring him comfort, Kiba had not been one of them. The other second year had approached him a few days ago, sat him down and gave him the barebones of being a devil. It surprised Issei as much as it helped alleviate his concerns. That is to say, he was quite happy finding out he wasn't a soul sucking Faustian figure of lore. Issei still wasn't sure as to why the blonde boy offered his friendship. Kiba had simply told him that he understood on some level what Issei was going through.

" _It's like being a doll. I hated it."_ And Kiba was right. It really was like being a doll. They were too afraid of breaking something. He trudged himself out of the school, thoughts still swarming. As soon as he got to the bike rack, his phone rang. Issei flicked the device open and navigated his way to his messages. Huh. A new message from Rias. He read it quickly.

"I guess I could do another request. Nothing can be worse than Mil-tan…" he mumbled to himself. That had been an altogether frightening experience. Issei shuddered before sending Rias an affirmative. It would also help get his mind off his dissatisfaction he supposed. His phone pinged once again, this time with an address and the name of the client. Issei unchained his bike before hopping on, his thoughts taking over the dull ride.

He would probably never get used to this. Completing oddjobs in exchange for magical power. What was he, some sort of shrineless god of work? He chuckled at his own bad joke. Actually, he would probably get a laugh out of one of his clients with that joke. The man had good taste in anime.

Pulling the brake lever, Issei's bike rolled to a stop in front of the designated apartment building. Pulling his chain out of his bag, he locked it on the rack with one quick snap. He stepped into the building and immediately headed to the directory.

"601. 601. Looking for 601." He whistled off a tune as he searched for the house number. Ah, it was the last room on the highest floor. He walked up several flights of stairs before finally reaching the apartment.

"Huh, the door's unlocked." While somewhat strange, Issei assumed it wasn't that weird all things considered. The client was expecting company after all. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Ohayo Miyazaki-san, I'm here about your req-" Issei almost vomited mid sentence. Even though he didn't, he still couldn't stop himself from dry heaving at the sight before him. In front of him was a man. He was strung up by his ankles, nailed hard into the drywall behind him. Dried blood was caked into large rivulets streaming from the many stab wounds inflicted upon his body. The worse thing however, had been the man's face. It was strained into an expression of deep pain, gaunt and almost comically stretched as the man silently howled. Issei hoped the man was dead, for his sake.

"Ah, so you are the devil this heathen contracted…" A voice rang from deeper within the apartment. Issei immediately tensed. Devil, the voice had called him. A young man stepped into the main room, walking out of the bathroom while wiping down his hands. He was dressed in some odd combination of a military officer's uniform and priestly robes. A stoic look was grafted onto the man's face, partially covered by his white hair. He flung away the towel he was using before flicking away his bangs with his hand.

"Y-y-you! Did you do this?" Issei questioned with every ounce of bravery he had. This was beyond dangerous. Issei didn't for a second doubt that the white haired priest was some sort of magical being. He was severely disadvantaged with his flimsy reserves… but that didn't mean he was defenseless.

"Why of course. As Saint Peter had said 'Repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' It is not only my right as a man of the church, but my responsibility to lead this stray lamb back to Father's sweet embrace." He said sullenly, eyes downcast. Issei stilled, preparing himself to run as soon as he saw an opening.

"You're fucking insane…" He said quietly, hoping to buy some time. In complete honesty, he had no idea what to do besides run. Issei watched silently as the man began laughing in response. The laughter slowly rose to cackles and were just as quickly silenced. The man eyed Issei threateningly.

"Oh ye of little faith," the priest said smoothly, "Once you find yourself devoted to a cause, there are no lengths to which you will not go." He took one step closer to Issei. Issei took one step back.

"No depths to which you will not stoop." Another step forward. One more back.

"And no occasion, to which you will not rise and succeed." He took a third step. Issei's back collided with the door behind him. He cursed internally. Of all the times for his politeness to screw him over.

"But, I digress... Sister, if you would." The man motioned to the corpse pinned to the wall. Issei cast his gaze over. Another person had stepped out of the bathroom during their conversation. A blonde girl around Issei's age stepped out, her long hair flowing down the back of her habit. Though it was the girl's face that caused Issei to pause.

"Asia?" Issei questioned softly, unable to bring himself to believe the kind girl would be involved in this. And, in some ways, he supposed he was correct. The nun was obviously distressed. Tears ran down her red face and her fists were balled at the side as though she were unsure. Issei almost wanted to step forward and hug the poor girl, if not for the situation.

"F-F-Father Freed! I-I can't. This isn't right!" She exclaimed. The priest tsked lightly, not entirely disappointed.

"I cannot say I was not expecting this. You will be duly punished." He said before turning towards the corpse himself. Issei could only watch as he drew a handle from his overcoat, before clicking a button on its side. A beam of pure white light blasted forth from the saber's handle, before solidifying into a thin white rapier blade. Issei watched in morbid formation as the man carved english letters into the body.

"May you find your peace in death, for this world is not a respite for sinners." He said as he clasped his hands together to pray. He knelt down quietly while repeating the holy psalms.

"Amen." His voice rung through the silence. Issei's horror only magnified as he watched the script on the corpse light and set the body alight in a white blaze of holy energy. The aura permeated the room around him, and it was becoming difficult for the young devil to breathe. The man named Freed then faced Issei once more.

"How would you like to die... you shitty devil!?" The man's voice transitioned in the middle of his question. From a smooth baritone, it took on a raspy tenor as the man's face morphed into a scowl. Issei, still caught in his stupor of shock, was unable to answer as the priest took the initiative and lunged at him with the glowing saber. At the last moment, he regained his bearings and dodged to his left, the man's sword knicking him on the arm as it sliced cleanly into the heavy metal apartment door behind him.

"Oh, it appears that you aren't as useless as Raynare had led me to believe…" Issei's blood froze in his veins. That name…

"But, even so, a newly born devil such as you has little hope of leaving alive. Please, at least try to make this _enjoyable_ for me." The man said quietly while he slowly pulled his saber out of the door. Issei looked to his side as the man was preoccupied with his musings.

Asia's face had paled, and her tears had long since dried. She was shivering. Unable to stop himself, Issei's hand reached out and grasped the girl's arm to steady her. The abrupt touch shocked her out of her daze and she let out a startled gasp. He smiled slightly, trying to reassure the kind girl he had met yesterday. She bit her lip, and nodded back apprehensively, wariness bleeding through her actions.

It was hard to explain what happened next. _Something_ tipped Issei off, an almost sixth sense. His nose twitched and he felt pin pricks gather on his skin. Whatever it was, it saved Issei's life as he quickly pushed Asia away from him, right as the mad priest's blade took a vicious horizontal swing that would have sliced them both in half. Issei hissed in pain as he lost his footing and landed on his wounded right arm. Although the cut had been cauterized by the holy light manifested by the blade, the cut was already festering. It was as though some sort of fast acting disease had ingrained itself into his flesh.

"Issei!" He heard Asia shout in worry. Issei started rolling immediately, Asia's voice acting as a warning for the deranged man's next strike. Already, Freed was upon the young devil, his blade sinking deeply into the floor once and again, as the man repeatedly stabbed at Issei in a frenzied tempo. Thinking quickly, Issei used all his energy to quickly lash out with his leg, barely knocking the lunatic off balance as he pulled himself off the ground. Jumping to his feet, Issei used the only spell he had managed to develop with the little magical power he had developed.

 _Never thought I'd say this, but I owe that blonde bastard one for those two lessons._

Originally, when Kiba had told Issei he was going to teach him magic, Issei was over the moon. Then it turned out that the brunette had the magical capacity of half a teaspoon. In fact, he was so magically inept, he couldn't even power transportation circles. It was quite pitiful when his dreams of firing off Kamehameha's turned to dust, but the young man did have one spell in his repertoire.

"Solar Flare!" He shouted as he assumed the famous stance from his favorite manga series.

"Gah! What the Hell! My eyes!" Issei's eyes were still closed, but it wasn't hard to pick out who had said that. Opening his eyes, Issei rushed over to Asia who had fallen to her knees lightly massaging her eyes. With a gentle tug, the young man pulled the girl up and towards him as he dragged her across the apartment. Throwing open the door, Issei ran down the hallway bringing Asia with him. He made it all the way to his bike before Asia finally managed to rub the whiteness out of her eyes.

"I..What is…" Asia mumbled, her mind reeling to catch up with the present. Issei quieted her with a light push, forcing her to sit side saddle on his bike's rear rack before unlocking the bike and throwing the lock to the side in a hurry. He could always get a new one, when his life _wasn't_ in grave danger. He looked Asia over before he realized something. His hand reached for Asia's habit before a soft grip stopped him. Issei cursed himself as his eyes met Asia's. Her tears were barely held back behind a facade of worry.

"Freed. He's, well, he-he's gonna be looking for a nun and a devil right?" He tried to explain softly. His adrenaline was still pumping even though his gaze softened. They did not have a moment to spare. He could already hear Freed's cursing begin to subside. The man had a serious pair of lungs.

Asia's hand drifted towards her habit, hands shakily gripping the cloth. Even now, after her excommunication, she couldn't bring herself to remove the garb of a nun. It was all she had left of her identity as a Sister of the Church of the Lord. Though, she supposed in a self deprecating tone, hiding her nature at behest of a devil wouldn't be the most blasphemous thing she would have done as a 'Witch'. But even so, she could not bring herself to remove it. Seeing her indecision, Issei made another attempt to convince her.

"Please, Asia. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't have to. I need you to trust me. Not as a human, not as a devil. Not even as Issei. But as your friend, someone who cares about you." He begged her gently. Asia met his eyes. The church she worked in often read the tale of Adam and Eve, and the devil serpent who whispered sweet nothings to corrupt the judgement of the first woman. But, she could not find anything malicious in those eyes. Those brown irises filled with genuine concern. She nodded slowly before reaching up and taking the habit off her blonde hair. She folded it quickly before tucking it into her dress. Then she tore off parts of her sleeves, and the bottom frills of her dress, eliciting a yelp of surprise from the boy.

"A nun wouldn't dress like this right Issei?" She asked demurely. It hadn't been part of the original plan, but she could always sew the pieces back on, they had been clean tears anyways. Issei unable to handle the abrupt change chose to focus on the efficacy of the disguise, and not the amount of leg the new "dress" was showing. Issei nodded, she in no way looked like a nun now. In fact, her new attire resembled an ornamented, green sundress more than a nun's attire. Asia then took the cross she was wearing and was preparing to hide that as well before Issei stopped her.

"Here, I have an idea." Hands moving deftly because the clock was ticking, he walked behind her and turned the necklace into a crude hairband for a high ponytail. Inspecting his work, he smiled broadly at her, before jumping on the bike and kicking off. Not a moment too soon, as a large explosion erupted above him as he pedaled away.

"YOU SHITTY DEVIL!" The enraged priest's shout came out the now doorless apartment. Issei only pedaled harder.

It was a good hour before Issei's legs finally gave out. He had taken Asia through a meandering path of alleys and side roads strewn throughout the city, all in an attempt to lose any kind of tail that may have followed them. He pulled off from the biking lane and onto the sidewalk. He let out a sigh of relief as his sore calves and thighs were given a short rest before he started pedaling again. Asia, however, wasn't nearly as relieved. She stopped the brunette in his tracks by grabbing his bicep.

"Please, Issei, you're still injured…" The girl pleaded. Issei winced, now that his heart beat finally slowed down, the throbbing in his arm. He rolled up his sleeve took a look. Asia let out a gasp. Well, at least it didn't hurt as bad as it looked, though that was a small consolation. The small nick had transformed into a far more sinister looking wound. A diseased rash had spread out and encompassed a large amount of his shoulder. Some of the flesh around it even appeared to be literally burnt away. All in all, it was as if someone had dropped acid on his cut. The young man rolled his arm and winced at the pain that sparked from his arm. It wasn't debilitating though.

"Look, Asia, it's fine… doesn't even hurt that much." He lied through clenched teeth. Asia stared him down, green eyes boring into brown. A harshness was there that Issei would never have expected to seen from the girl. Her gaze softened.

"I trusted you. So, please trust me. You don't know what holy light can do to a devil." She urged. Issei's conviction melted away at her argument. He would be a really shitty friend if he tried to argue now. He sighed, and shifted the bike to let Asia off before swinging his own leg over. He looked around, the streets were still slightly crowded, the last of the day's workers making their commute home.

"You can't heal me out in the open. It'll give us away." Not to mention the international incident that revealing the reality of magic would cause. Issei looked around for anything that could be used as a private setting. A few minutes of searching left him with nothing. The few restaurants he could see were jam packed, and the rest of the stores weren't necessarily private enough for Asia's bright green healing magic. He felt Asia tugging his shirt and looked towards her.

"How about that place Issei? I don't think I've seen anyone go in." Issei glanced over to where she was pointing. He stared at the building a bit. Then as if to confirm his suspicions, he glanced at the sign. He nodded to himself.

"No way in hell." He said simply. Asia faltered at the surety in his voice.

"But why? I think I recognize one of the words, it's a hotel, right Issei?" Issei sucked in his breath. Yeah, it was a hotel. But not one a _nun_ should stay at.

"Not even God himself could get me to stay there." This time, a raging headache sprang up instantaneously as soon as Issei finished what he said. He clutched his temple and began massaging it.

"Jesus Christ that smarts!" And once again it sprang up. What the hell was going on?

"Please don't take the Lord's name in vain Issei, it is taboo for beings of sin to utter the Father's name." Asia explained to him, more focused on the blasphemy than the issue of Issei's pain. Seriously? He couldn't even swear as a devil now? What sort of irony was that? He paused his irrelevant thoughts.

"Well, it doesn't matter, either way I can't stay there with you." He said with finality. Asia pouted at him. Her lower lip quivered and her green eyes became moist with tears.

"We don't have that many options Issei…" She trailed off. It was the oldest trick in the book. A guilt trip that involved tugging on the heartstrings of an upstanding young hero to get him to acquiesce to something. Issei was fully aware, and tore his gaze away from her. That didn't stop him from falling for it.

 _God damn it._

His head then felt as though it were struck by a dumbbell. Son of a bitch! Not even in his own mind? That's bullshit! He tried to massage away the pain as Asia dragged them across the street towards the building. He sighed as the shops around him slowly became more and more familiar. This was the last place Issei thought he would spend his evening this morning.

They entered the rather posh (for this kind of hotel of course) establishment, with Issei being reluctantly dragged across the lobby. Thankfully, as Asia had noted earlier, there were no other customers in the hotel to give the two of them weird looks. Though…

"Hyoudou-san?" A clear voice rang through the silence of the lobby. The young devil's eyebrow twitched erratically. Of all the people, and all the places, why? Sitting at the receptionist's counter of the disreputable hotel, was none other than the scariest of his three High-class Devil senpais: Narukami Yu. Immediately, Issei could feel the a cold sweat start trailing down his neck.

"O-Ohayo Narukami-senpai!" The young man tried to blow off the fear and awkwardness he was feeling. Yu simply nodded in greeting, confusion clear across his face. Well, until the third member of their conversation finally joined.

"Room for two, please!" Asia said in heavily accented Japanese. Yu's eyes drifted away from Issei's nervous form, and focused on the girl that was clasping his kouhai's arm. Yu studied the girl, more specifically, the odd attire she was wearing. While it looked alright from afar as they walked in, Yu noted the more peculiar parts of the dress now that he got a closer look. Yu looked between the two younger teens. His eyes met Issei's once again, and Issei simply smiled nervously back. Yu nodded. He then pulled out his cellphone.

"Ma'am, if you would please come with me? I'll help you call the police." He said completely straight faced. It took a few seconds for Issei to register what exactly his senpai was saying.

"Wait! Wait! This isn't what this looks like!" Issei said, both palms flying outwards to try and convey his innocence. Yu simply looked at him unamused. Issei glanced around, checking to see if anyone else had entered, before he leaned close towards the counter.

"It's devil stuff." He whispered, both hands cupping his mouth. Yu looked at him, before looking at the blonde next to Issei. He nodded.

"I see." The silver haired teen said. Issei sighed in relief, all tension draining away from his body. Yu bent down for a second. Issei watched as his upperclassman's body disappeared from view.

"Ma'am, please wait in the other room while I scold my Kouhai for roping you into such dishonorable acts." The upperclassman said as he stood up and laid a short sword covered in a ceremonial cloth upon the counter along with a longer blade sheathed in a decorative wooden case. An aura of utter death encroached outwards from the young man opposite Issei. The brunette gulped. He then asked a question he didn't want the answer for.

"U-Uh, S-S-Senpai, w-what's that f-f-for?" He asked. Yu's steely gaze met Issei's. It almost evoked the younger man to tears with its intensity.

"Hmm? Why, to cleanse the Hyoudou name of the dishonor wrought upon it by its _prodigal_ son of course." The silver haired teen stated, as though he were talking about the weather. Issei shivered.

"U-Uh well… you see… I'm…" He tried to explain, unable to get a word out underneath his senior's intense glare. He gulped.

"Are you alright Issei? We can always find another place... it needs to be private after all." Asia said, completely oblivious to the situation her friend was in. She was even smiling at him! Issei was honestly about to cry. He didn't want to commit seppuku at the tender age of sixteen! He hadn't seen enough breasts yet!

"Any last words Hyoudou-san?" His senior asked nonchalantly. It did little to hide the murderous rage and visions of impending doom that were emanating from the third year's aura. His senpai began unwrapping the ceremonial cloth before Issei finally found the courage to speak.

"We're being chased by a mad priest!" The young man blurted out before bringing both arms up in surrender. Yu stared at him. Then he turned back towards Asia.

"Is this true?" He asked her politely. Asia nodded in agreement, smile still on her face.

"Then I suppose I was incorrect in my assumption then. Though, there aren't many reasons one would come to a love hotel." Yu said as he started putting away the blessed instruments of honorable death. Issei nearly let out a yelp of happiness. He was saved!

"A what?" He was doomed! To give a man such hope, and to so callously rip it away? That was cruelty of the greatest kind, lamented the young devil. Yu turned towards Issei, once more preparing to reach below his desk.

"It wasn't my idea, you were the only place we could find so that she could use her healing power on me!" He said as he quickly rolled up his sleeve and showed him his wound. Yu paused and took a look. He beckoned the younger boy over the counter and rolled up his sleeve more. Issei watched on as the silver haired teen began inspecting his cut.

"Were you poisoned? This sort of reaction can only come from something lethal in your system." The other teen said. While Yu was definitely not an expert on devil anatomy, he had definitely had his fair share of magical poisoning. This reaction wasn't too far off.

"He was cut by Father Freed's holy saber." Asia cut in. Issei watched as Yu furrowed his brow in thought, having some sort of internal conversation with himself.

"I see." Yu responded neutrally. Issei bit his lip and hissed as the other teen prodded at the wound. He hadn't realized how sensitive it had gotten. It certainly hadn't hurt as much a few minutes ago. Yu let go of his arm before turning around and grabbing a pair of keys from the counter behind him. He strode past the pair who were both shooting inquisitive gazes at him, and walked up to the hotel's door before locking it. He then walked over to the window and flipped the sign over.

"I'll just tell the third shift manager I went home early because I wasn't feeling well. Come with me, we can use the manager's office and then leave out the back." Yu said as he walked down the hall. Issei, realizing that he was supposed to follow quickly grabbed Asia by the wrist and lead her after Yu. They made a few turns before stopping before a white door with a glass window inset into it. Yu opened the door before sitting at one of the four desks in the room, and gestured for the pair to sit down across from him. Issei sat down before realizing something.

"Wait a minute, you're a manager here?! You're only one year older than I am!" Yu looked at him.

"I was hired yesterday." He explained.

"That explains nothing!" Yu ignored Issei's response and turned to Asia.

"Heal him quickly, if they're still chasing you, we need to get you to safety." He motioned towards Issei's arm, and watched as the girl sprung up and got to work to treating the brunette. She rolled up his sleeve and raised both her palms towards his cut before a green glow surrounded both her hands. Issei watched in amazement as the actual cut began to close and the infected area around it began to slowly recede. He glanced at his senior. Once again the young man's brow was furrowed, this time though, it looked as though he was evaluating Asia's Sacred Gear.

Then it struck Issei. Asia was a Sacred Gear wielder. Narukami-senpai was a High-class Devil. Obviously he would want to reincarnate her for her power. Issei grimaced. Narukami-senpai didn't seem the kind of person to force someone into his Peerage, but…

"There! All done." Asia exclaimed and pulled her hands away. Issei looked down at his arm, all the blemished removed. He gave it an experimental swing and then threw a light punch.

"Hah! Good as new. Thanks Asia!" He said, ready to get going already.

"Good, then we should get going." Yu said, interrupting their elation. Issei paused and looked at his senior.

"We?" He asked confused.

"Yes, if a single priest did that much damage to you with a single graze, I doubt you will survive fighting any possible reinforcements he may have called." Yu stated his tone hard and serious. Issei paled, but was still reluctant to accept the help. It wasn't that his senpai was wrong, but he didn't fully trust the other young man yet.

"Thank you for helping." Asia interrupted once more, her smile genuine. Yu smiled back and nodded.

"There's no need to thank me. Just doing what's right." He explained. He excused himself for a moment, to get something from outside his office. Issei watched the other devil leave through the office door. Internally, Issei was trying to quell his apprehension at working with the older devil. Even though he did seem like he was evaluating Asia, the other teen seemed genuinely honest with his response. Tch, not even a week and he was already getting this paranoid.

It was a few minutes before the young manager showed up at the office with a kendo bag on his shoulder. Issei stared at the bag and shuddered, the murderous aura of his senior still fresh in his mind.

"Right, we'll leave through the back. I'm not sure where to take her though…" Yu trailed off in thought. Issie nodded, he was having the same dilemma. It wasn't as if Asia was a devil. He couldn't take her to the old school clubhouse, especially since she was a nun. But he couldn't take her to a church either. The priest would find her for sure.

"There's an old abandoned church not far from here right?" Yu said, racking his head for answers.

"Yeah, there is! We cou-" Issei began, before Asia interrupted him.

"That's where Father Freed resides." She said lightly, biting her lip. Yu waited, as she appeared to want to say more, but nothing came. Issei interjected first, to try and shield her from Yu's scrutinizing.

"Of course that crazy bastard would choose an _abandoned_ church. Who the hell would let him be their priest?" He joked lightly. He wasn't wrong though. What sort of church had a murderous priest that used expletives and violence to punish sinners?

"Then, she'll just have to stay with one of us, I suppose." Yu said, with a tone of finality. Issei froze. He stared at Yu. Yu stared back. This was the other teen's chance to proposition Asia for his Peerage. Issei cleared his throat.

"She should stay with me./She should stay with you." Both boys said simultaneously. Issei looked at him in surprise, and Yu merely nodded.

"I may be stronger, but I need you to take care of her. Rias can get to you quickly right?" Issei nodded, seeing the logic in the statement. Rias had access to her teleportation circle, and could bring her whole Peerage if necessary.

"But wouldn't you already be with her if something happened?" Issei questioned. He wasn't sure how long it would take for Rias to get there after all. Anything could happen in a few moments. Not to mention his mom and dad.

"Yes, but my… group isn't here in the city right now. I'm assuming Rias has her... club." Issei nodded. That would make much more sense. If they somehow overpowered Yu, then Asia would have no chance if Yu's Peerage wasn't there to back him up. A thought struck him.

"Crap, I have to let Buchou know about this!" He said. He pulled out his phone, before Yu stopped him by placing his hand on it.

"Don't let her know I am helping you." He said seriously. Issei looked at him confused.

"I… it would be a blow to her pride. Devil's care about pride right?" Issei nodded. That made sense. Man, he thought to himself, being a High-class Devil must _seriously_ be tough if this is the sort of stuff he would need to constantly worry about.

"Right, then what should I say?" Issei asked. Yu nodded and exhaled in relief.

"Tell them the truth. You met...Asia?" The girl nodded, "You met Asia when you ran into a mad priest and rescued her." Issei nodded and typed it into his phone. Not even three seconds later, a message was already returned. He read it. It was pretty normal given the situation. A bit of scolding for his actions, but mainly worry about injuries and where he was currently.

"Tell her you're on her way home, and that you're bringing Asia with you." Yu said.

"How did you?" Issei asked astonished. He hadn't even finished reading the text!

"Pretty easy to tell what she asked." He said. Issei nodded and texted Yu's answer to her. A few seconds later he got a response.

"She says we should meet her at my house." Yu nodded.

"Good, I'll drop you off a few blocks before. Make sure not to mention me alright?" Issei nodded. It was the least he could do for the help. Issei turned towards Asia, who was shifting nervously in her seat. She kept fidgeting with the now frayed edge of her dress. It was pretty obvious to Issei why she was so apprehensive.

"Don't worry about meeting Buchou. She's pretty different from the devils you normally hear about." He comforted her. The girl turned to him, and nodded shallowly.

"Are you sure?" She asked anxiously.

"Definitely. Besides, I'm right here with you right? Devil or not, Issei Hyoudou will protect you!" He declared. He heard a light scoff from the side.

"What are you? A shonen protagonist? Come on, we have to get going." Yu teased. Issei flushed instantly, and even Asia laughed a bit at his reaction. Issei coughed into his hand to regain his composure. Yu nodded, and gestured for them to leave. He locked up behind them as they made their way towards the back exit. It was an old emergency exit in a storage room in the back of the hotel.

"The alarm's been disabled for a while now. My employer says this is mainly used for small shipments and discrete orders now." Yu said as he casually pushed through. Issei nodded and followed along with Asia as they stepped through into a small alley. The group stepped onto the street it connected to and got their bearings. Most of the shops even in the "scandalous" district had closed down at this point. Issei looked around.

"We need to go that way." Yu nodded, and took lead with his hand on his kendo bag, prepared to open it at any time. The night was quiet as they made their way through the empty streets. Once again, Issei made use of his knowledge of the city alleys to try and shortcut their way towards his home, as well as disrupt their pathing.

They made their way down one of the last open streets towards his home. After the next right, he and Asia would be able to jump a few backyards and get into his house. In front of Issei, Yu stopped and turned around. Startled, Issei and Asia turned around. Issei wished he hadn't.

"My, my, when Freed told us that you were the one who took Asia, I thought he had been lying." A sensual voice floated across the empty street. The owner, however, was far from attractive to Issei. Two great black wings extended from the shoulders of a young woman. Although, her clothing was extremely suggestive, Issei was focused on one thing only. Those violet eyes. Those horrid violet eyes. It was as though he were but an insect. An amusing pet at best.

"Tch, did we really all have to come, Raynare?" A masculine voice said as he faded into view from behind Raynare. Instead of a woman, it was a man, with the same kind of wings. He was dressed in something far more conservative. A trench coat and fedora, akin to those of the American 50's. A pair of fluttering noises and thuds dropped behind the group. Issei turned to meet the next two members of Raynare's group.

"I mean, I don't mind, I get to have some new playmates! Especially the silver haired one…" A young voice pealed through the night. Even from here, Issei could sense the lust radiating off of the waifish, blonde fallen angel. Her partner let out a snort.

"You're lucky you're fallen already, Mittelt." Unlike her partner, the last angle was much more grown. A grown woman, certainly. Her blue-violet hair complimented the odd looking dress the woman was wearing. The dress certainly complimented her "assets" at the very least. Issei shuddered. The prospect of a mad priest was daunting enough, but four fallen angels?! Issei watched as their attention was instead turned towards their own conversations. Specifically, between "Yuuma" and the man, and Mittelt and the other woman.

"W-What do you want?" He said, unable to hold back his fear. The angels all paused. The first to say anything had been Raynare. She laughed. She laughed and laughed. Issei tensed up.

"Just what's so fucking funny? You bitch!" His words were strong. His spirit was not. It was very apparent to the angel as well.

"Oh my god, you're just the perfect little entertainer!" Raynare said once her laughter finally subsided. Her expression gained a haughty tone as she pointed at Asia.

"Her. What else? Did you think we were here for you?" Issei turned, jaw clenched in anger. No. No. He wouldn't let this happen. Not again.

"Well, you can't have her!" He exclaimed. Something was roaring. What was roaring? Someone shut that thing up! Raynare broke into laughter again.

"And who's gonna stop me? You? Please, say you." Isei gritted his teeth in frustration. No Raynare was right. He couldn't stop her. The roaring grew. True, there wasn't anything he could actually do...but…

"I can't stop you, I know I can't. But Asia is _my_ friend. She's _mine_. And I'll die before I let you have her!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. The roaring was so loud he couldn't even hear Asia say something next to him. Let alone whatever Raynare and her lackeys were saying to mock him. He watched as they began circling the three of them. A hand clasped his shoulder. The roaring stopped.

"Allow me." Yu said as he stepped forward. Issei had been so caught up in his hatred that he had forgotten his senior was even there. His declaration was treated with even less respect if possible.

"You? You don't even have a magical signature! What do you hope to do?" The youngest looking angel, Mittelt, taunted. Yu glared at her with such an intensity that the angel paused. Issei and Asia watched on as the older teen began channeling some kind of energy. Whatever it was, it was _strong_. Issei could only tell because the very air in the street began to freeze. Frost was forming on the concrete, where a few seconds ago it was blazing with the early-autumn heat. The angels could feel it too. It gave them pause.

"This can't be right, I thought you said the Sitri heir was a girl?" The male fallen said to Raynare.

"She is!" That was all Raynare could bite out before the physical effects of the silver haired teen's magic doubled in force. Blue flames began to surround Yu, and once again, Issei saw that blue card show up in his hand.

" _Persona!"_ The young man shouted. Issei heard the sound of shattering glass, and the distinct gasp of Asia. Issei looked at his friend and followed her gaze. Directly above them, _something_ had manifested. It had blonde hair, and Issei thought it was a devil. Especially with the blackened bat-like wings. But, the skin had a green tinge to it that he hadn't seen on any devil before, not even the one stray he had met. The being opened its eyes, an ominous red glow emanating from its pupils.

" _Old One!"_ Issei heard his senpai shout over the wind. A gleam appeared in the creature's eyes, and it held its hands out. All of a sudden, a black orb appeared in between the two hands. Then, without warning, it bursted. A sea of blackness covered Issei's vision for nearly ten seconds, before he heard four simultaneous thuds. In an instant, the blackness receded once more. Issei looked around.

"A-Are they…" He couldn't even bring himself to say it. It was just simply so sudden. He looked away from the bodies. The creature was gone as well, and with it, the deathly cold. Yu looked back at him and shook his head.

"No, just knocked out. I drained their energy and wiped their minds of the past hour or two." He said. Issei merely gaped at him in awe. Just what the hell was his senior?! Yu's steel colored eyes examined Issei.

"Remember. Do not. Tell. Rias." The senior said. Issei merely nodded dumbly. It was fairly easy to tell that the older devil was annoyed beyond belief. Yu nodded towards the back road Issei had been leading them to.

"Get going. I have to get home." Not wanting to face the wrath of his senior, Issei grabbed Asia by the hand and led her through the backroad.

Yu watched as the two left him. He was beyond irritated. It was not so much the fact that he saved his kouhai that bothered him. Rather, it was the fact that he had to call another Persona out to fix the situation.

 **But My Friend! It Felt Good To Stretch My Legs Again!**

Yu scoffed. Right. The magical trickster god happy to do physical exercise.

 **Hehehe.** **It's Just A Saying! Don't Be So Uptight! Live A Little!**

Yu ignored his Persona. Even though he had to summon it, the information gathered from this outing was rather invaluable. Devils _and_ Fallen Angels existed. Not just that, but devils were weak to whatever type of "holy" magic the church produced. Jeez, this just keeps getting more and more complicated. Three factions already. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He had a hell of a lot to tell his friends to look out for when he got home.

 **You Know, We Could Always Do Some… Creative Pranking?**

 _You mean deadly sabotage?_

 **You Say Sabotage, I Say Tomato.**

He sighed. Of all the Persona in the compendium, it just had to be this one.

 **Hey, Wanna Hear A Knock Knock Joke?**

 _Sure, why not. Not like anything else could ruin today._

 **Knock Knock.**

 _Who's there?_

 **Why.**

 _Why who?_

 **Why So Serious? Bwahahahaha.**

Yu rubbed his temples in exasperation. That joke didn't even make sense...

 _For a norse god of magic, you sure do enjoy modern media._

 **Bah. If You Want Gloom And Doom, Get My Brother Or Father.**

 **I Am What You Imagine Me To Be.**

 **A Man Of Wisdom, Or A Man Of Treachery.**

 **But For Now, I Am The Norse God of Mayhem And Mischief, At Your Service, My Friend.**

 **Nothing More Than A Simple Fool.**

Yu smiled. A Fool indeed.

 **Extended A/N: So, it's been a while. College ended. This chapter took two months. Uh, updates for some of my other stories will be in maybe a few weeks. I definitely want to do my WormXA Certain Magical Index story. So that will be getting an update soon. On to non meta things.**

 **So, I hope I made Issei and Asia's relationship more fleshed out, while still keeping in line with the character traits. That was my main concern this chapter. Because, honestly hero-worship is bleh for tropes. I think it's fine in the context of the anime, but not for this story. Doesn't make much sense eh?**

 **Yes, Yu does work as a manager at a love hotel. Yes he did literally get hired yesterday. Do you care why? Yes or no, I don't. I mean, we've all done weirder stuff in the actual games. I might throw in some context on the next chapter for that. Maybe, maybe not. I like writing less world building, and letting intuition build the world for me.**

 **Some more context based things. So basically, we skipped the first date. Like, there was literally nothing there for me to work with. It's pretty straight forward. First meeting Asia, then this happens.**

 **Uh, the only other thing to touch on is the interaction of Rias+Peerage dynamic with Issei and Yu finding out more about the world.**

 **Basically, it's been a week since Issei's been reincarnated. They still don't know how to deal with him since he's actually died. They've all been close, but never over the brink. Obviously, they think he should talk about it, and Issei being the guy he is just wants to get over it and move on. Kiba finds kinship, because of all the tragic back stories to the Peerage, I feel he understands the most to Issei's situation.**

 **On Yu's side, he's learned the existence and confirmation of Two factions now, and assumes a third underneath the pretense of whatever "holy" is considered to be. We see Loki, who is type cast into a more chaotic neutral attitude, bordering chaotic evil naturally, and influenced to be chaotic good by Yu.**

 **What are my preference for the Persona used? Probably my favorites, but outside of those, biblical ones will probably take a back seat. They will happen, as Helel is a very important part of Yu's social links, and so is Satan. But mainly, I want to focus more on the gods that Yu has access to, as well as his friends. That means mainly Eastern/Asian, in Shinto and Chinese mythology. The Norse is my favorite however, preference wise.**

 **Any other questions (Persona wise), leave in reviews.**

 **Also, I have no beta. I do not want one, but if you happen to see something wrong mechanically or technically (minor plotholes and grammar) do try and point it out. Thank you.**

 **Read and Review :D**


	6. READER BEWARE! I am the SPOILER!

**A/N: Hey all! So, I guess you're wondering what's going on? Well, we hit 500+ Followers as of the writing of this! So, I felt like celebrating :D (Even though some of you are obviously not reviewing. 300+ favorites and 500+ followers for 90 reviews .) Normally I don't condone this sort of thing, but I felt that the piece I wrote was of sufficient length to be a mini chapter.**

 **As always, longer A/N at bottom. This is predominately A/N anyways.**

 **Sneak Peak: Avoid if you don't want spoilers. But we all know you're gonna read this anyways. Impatient readers .**

Confrontation with Sirzechs:

"I suppose you already know what this is?" The man in front of Yu waved to the figure on the table. Its blood red gleam made it quite the noticeable decoration on the wooden desk. Yu nodded.

"I thought your wife was already your Queen?" Yu asked the devil. He chortled, a rather vicious gleam appeared in the red haired man's eyes.

"Yes, she is. Thought I suppose your real question is not that, but rather, 'Why?' or 'How?'" The devil prodded. Yu nodded once more, his ruse easily detected and ignored.

"The 'How?' is rather easy. When you are the strongest of the Four Satans, Lords of Hell, and friends with the creator of the evil piece system, the rules are rather… _inconsequential_. After all, who would enforce them?" The red haired demon ended with a chuckle. Yu stared at him.

"That is rather corrupt." He pointed out, not exactly able to believe what the man was propositioning.

"Some would call it nepotism." Sirzechs brushed off, uncaring. Yu analyzed the man. He was different than before. Instead of the mirth and joy of the elder brother of Rias Gremory, Yu found something far more sinister.

"Ah, but that doesn't answer the 'Why?' now does it?" Sirzechs said uncaring. His eyes bored into Yu's steel colored irises. Yu stared back.

"You see, there are many factions in the world. All of them based on the many religious inclinations of humans, and the many pantheons they worship. The Biblical one, simply happens to be the strongest, and largest." The man explained smoothly. Yu nodded, as it made sense. The crusades of Christianity certainly enforced the spread of the Bible.

"Up until recently, our operations in Japan were tolerated. Not due to any political or material bargaining, but rather for our sheer power." Here Sirzechs paused, as though mulling over his next few words.

"However, Kokabiel, mangy raven that he is, has thrown that delicate balance into the trash. Now, that our weakness is exposed, that the revelation that our _God_ is dead, and with him the majority of our strength, the 'Shinto' Faction expects us to finally acquiesce to their demands to leave." Sirzechs finished with a predatory smirk.

"How does this involve me?" Yu asked, genuinely curious. Sirzechs laughed.

"I don't doubt that you've already figured it out. _Izanagi-no-Okami_." Yu bristled at the address.

"We… He, is not the same as the one you are looking for." Yu explained cautiously. Sirzechs eyed him, crimson eyes shining a baleful light.

"No, I suppose he is not. I know that. You know that. But, do _they_ know that? Does the rest of the supernatural world know that?" Sirzechs questioned. Yu waited with bated breath for the rest of the devil's explanation.

"Or better yet, do they _care_? You and your cohort, all showed power that hasn't been seen since the Great War. A group of school children manifesting a special power to beat down one of the strongest fallen angels and his legion? No, it is nothing so simple. Not to mention what I've heard from Rias's pawn about your journey to vanquish the fallen god, Hi-no-Kagutsuchi." Sirzechs eyed Yu down.

"For all intents and purposes, _you_ are Izanagi. Your brunette friend? Susanoo. The rest of them? Gods and goddesses. Reincarnation, a fascimile, or even a damned shade of a faded god, you now embody the power and responsibility of _Izanagi-no-Okami_ to the world at large _._ " Sirzechs finished with a great flair of his arms. Yu grimaced at this revelation, yet it still hadn't answered his true question. Sirzechs, reading his expression, continued.

"Now how does this relate to what I have here? Rather simply of course." Sirzechs let out with a toothy grin as he picked up the piece and waved it around.

"I expect the complaints of the Shinto Faction would ring rather hollow if their patron god allied himself with the Devil faction, no?" Sirzechs asked, still smiling. Yu frowned, and Sirzechs smiled even brighter.

"But, that's not the 'Why?' you're looking for is it?" _That_ startled Yu. He gazed once more at the man across from him.

"Your true question: 'Why would Sirzechs do this?' is it not? After all, I've played the part of the doting brother quite well." His grin hadn't broken. In fact, it was almost face splitting at this point. Yu watched him carefully. There was but one way to describe the man in front of him. A panther. Sleek, and unerring, one that plays with its prey.

"I am the leader of the underworld." He stated. It was fact. A matter of truth, for which there was no contest.

"There are Four Satans, true. But, I am _the_ Satan. Falbium has his tricks and deceits. A master of strategy in the most honest sense. And when I wish to know of something, I turn to my friend Ajuka Beelzebub, for none may consider themselves more educated than him. Lastly, there is Serafall. Although she may not look it, her skill and mastery of magic far outstrips the rest of us Satans. But…" Sirzechs narrowed his eyes, and leaned forward. Yu steeled himself for the rest of the explanation.

"What _I_ covet, is power. Power and control. Wealth? The Underworld itself would empty its coffers at my request. Influence? Armies march at my command." Sirzechs frowned as he continued his explanation, as Yu listened on stupefied.

"But recently, all that has changed. The Shinto faction now has reason to remove us from its land. Land that _is mine_. It is a _challenge_ to me. One I wish to crush completely and utterly..." He pointed at Yu.

"With you as the centerpiece." No longer was the tone of the conversation light. That had been thrown away long ago. Yu could only muster himself up to say one thing.

"Rias is not like you." He said simply. Sirzechs' eyes softened slightly.

"No, no she is not. But she is simply not old enough yet. She has not experienced the pain, nor the loss. It may be a while coming, and I shall do all in my power to prevent it, but she too shall become the kind of monster you see before you now. I have my own reasons for what I do, and in time, she shall have hers." He conceded. The silver haired teen gritted his teeth unable to accept the answer.

"Now, do you accept my offer?" He asked gently.

"No." Yu said, his resolve unbreakable. Sirzechs sighed.

"I cannot say that I did not expect this. However, be prepared. There will be more offers. And they shall be far less accommodating." Yu narrowed his eyes.

"Is that a threat?" He asked the greatest Satan. He laughed once again. A full blown laugh, before it faded away to chuckles.

"Your resolve is one to be admired. But, no, I am not so desperate for power that I would coerce you to join me. Your cooperation and ability would simply be a boon, not a necessity. I _want_ it, simply because it is not _mine_. What I said is a warning. Others would not be so above blackmail and worse. It wouldn't surprise me if, for example, your cousin and uncle went missing." Yu's eyes hardened. But still, Sirzechs was rather nonchalant about the thin veneer of politeness in his words. He raised the piece to Yu once more.

"So, I offer you again. Will you join me?" Yu stared at the proffered Evil Piece.

"Never." Once again, Sirzechs sighed.

"I am making this for _your_ protection. As a friend of my dear sister. The difference between you," he motioned towards Yu, " and this piece, is but a formality." He said as he placed the piece down in front of the silver haired teen. Yu shot him a questioning look.

"You talk as if you've already secured my cooperation." Sirzechs smirked knowingly.

"Have I not?" Yu glowered at his arrogance.

"I distinctly remember not agreeing." Sirzechs smiled at him. However, instead of mirth, this was one of a predatory nature.

"Let me ask you this then. Were I to ask Rias to complete a task for me, one that would most certainly end in her death without your help, how would you react?" He questioned. Yu stilled.

"You said that you loved your sister." Sirzechs nodded.

"I do, with all my heart." He stated. It was true, from what Yu could tell. As true as his statement about being the ruler of hell.

"Then why…" Yu trailed off. Sirzechs stared at him, before placing a hand on his chin. He thought for a moment, before answering.

"It seems you still do not understand. I shall rephrase." Sirzechs paused, to allow Yu time to gather his thoughts. Sirzechs once more waved his hand for dramatic effect.

"Is there, in this entire plane of existence, a reality where Yu Narukami would not save Rias Gremory? Is there such an outcome, that he would not bend knee for the life of my sister? Is there a single instance, in which he would willingly place my sister in harm's way?" Sirzechs asked calmly. Yu opened his mouth, but could not answer. His jaw clenched in frustration. Instead, Sirzechs had chosen to do so for him.

"As I said, a mere formality." Sirzechs rose up from the chair across him. His tone became appeasing as he continued.

"I love my sister. Worry not. The sun shall rise, and set. The planets shall orbit, and the stars shall die. And the end of time shall come, and Sirzechs shall always protect Rias… But even _she_ is not above being a piece in my machinations." He finished while walking across the desk and letting his arm settle around Yu's shoulders.

"There is a human saying. 'The greatest lie the devil ever told, was convincing the world he is dead'. It is true. No longer are we the devils you imagined. No longer are we the prowlers of the night, that feast upon and steal away with the souls of humans. No, now we are much more subtle. Sinister. Dangerous. After all, what is more perilous? The knife in your back, or the sword at your chest?" Sirzechs grinned once more, and this time, Yu could _see_ the creature behind the mask. A beast, that _desired_. And nothing else.

"I shall stare you in the eye, a smile on my face, my hand shaking yours, all the while taking what I want. And I would not even have to lift a finger." The Wild Card clenched his fists in anger. He glared at Sirzechs' smug grin.

"Rias… she will never be like you." He stated. Yu watched as a handful of expressions crossed Sirzechs' face. It was all he could to restrain the fury that was boiling up inside of him. How could such a kind girl, one with such a simple and true personality, be from the same family as this _demon_?

"Ah, then you are not aware?" Yu glanced at him. Aware of _what_? Seeing his questioning gaze, Sirzechs decided to withhold what he was preparing to say. He shook his head.

"Hmm, I suppose I shall let her tell you herself. But, whether you like it or not, she has already begun to think like me. It is a natural fate. My own was only exacerbated by the events in my life. However…" Sirzechs said as he began walking away. He shot a grin back at Yu.

"The rest is up to you, is it not?" Sirzechs said. He continued walking away, until he stopped at the door.

"But, I do hope that your pride does not once again destroy a woman you care for. That would be rather unfortunate, ne _Izanagi-dono_?" Sirzechs left.

It would be a good hour, before Yu finally came to terms with the devil known as Sirzechs Gremory. It had been a long time since he had felt so helpless.

 **A/N: So, I hope that has answered some of your questions about where this is going, and raised many many many many more about what the hell is going on and what happened between the future and now. Well too bad, I ain't saying jack about that. Instead we're gonna go over what happened here.**

 **So, what has happened here is the culmination of what I was talking about earlier. Or rather, one side of it. Yu has finally been exposed to the devils, and along with him, the Investigation Team. Sirzechs, in a bout of magnanimity, decides to enlighten Yu about the reality of his situation. Which then descends into this machiavellian reveal. It is the difference, between devils and humanity I was hoping to explain earlier.**

 **In some other stories, it is touched upon. Normally, via the four satans as they are the epitome of devils. Some of them, hint at it as a behind the scenes sort of thing. Here, it is blatant to the most important character it relates to, Yu.**

 **Is Sirzechs evil? Not necessarily. If you have noticed, he has done nothing that is truly evil. He admits that he is not threatening Yu, and is not even coercing him, but rather out of some odd form of brotherly love is trying to protect him. He doesn't even truly threaten his sister, because he is so** _ **sure**_ **of Yu's character, that he believes her being in danger a moot point. But, he will have Yu's power, by hook or by crook, as they say. This brings us to the important argument. Devil mentality shouldn't be like human mentality. Which I hope this expresses.**

 **At best, Sirzechs is Lawful Neutral towards his own objectives. His word is law, and his might makes right. Also, Gremory the demon in the historical story sense, is a demon that tells the past, future and present when concerning hidden treasures as well as procuring the love of women, mainly maidens. It is a demon of greed, which I hope to express as Sirzechs' main motivation. He** _ **wants**_ **power, because it is an internal character trait. In some sense, it is, as he said, empowered by his position as the strongest devil, and his experience in the devil's civil war.**

 **This will also likely be the first time you will see Yu falter in this story. His attempts at subterfuge were fairly well organized. For a 17-18 year old kid. Sirzechs has been at this crap for nearly 400 years, and likely, very likely, has dealt with many minor insurrections and claims for power as well as a war. It's old hat. Which it is why it is executed so smoothly. He truly hasn't done anything. Simply watch and intercede at the point which best suits his needs.**

 **Which then coincides with the next point. Izanagi and the Persona. Are they gods? Are they not? Who the hell cares, Sirzechs doesn't, neither does anyone else. And he's right in a sense. Although I have a plan for them (In the sense that they will have an explanation for their true existence) no one cares if they're gods or not. A couple teenagers smashed a fallen angel named "The Star of God" (Come on, we all knew this was going to happen. Otherwise this would be rather boring fanfiction) and his legion of angels. All while using spiritual beings that emulated faded gods and goddesses and weapons that related to the Shinto religion. And they slew an ACTUAL fallen god of the same religion. Look up Hi-No-Kagatsuchi some time. (Yes I am using Persona 4 Arena for something.)**

 **As a result, for all intents and purposes (until I get to the real reason), they are incarnations of them. Therefore, Spiderman. Power and responsibility, yada yada. Which is the crux of Sirzechs' plan. By manipulating his sister (safely) to eventually be in opposition (or to subjugate, he probably doesn't give a damn) to the Shinto faction, it puts their "patron god" on the side of the devil faction and in direct opposition to what "his" faction wants to do.**

 **Thus, Sirzechs essentially shames and curbstomps the Shinto faction into submission politically. Because fuck them for trying to usurp his authority. Or at least, that's his reasoning and objective. Who knows what happens? You don't. Heheh.**

 **I don't believe there's anything else. I mean, there's some hints at to what arcs I want to complete before this, and some directly after. If you can find them :D**

 **Oh, yeah, the legend of Izanagi. It's actual myth, and was mentioned in the games multiple times, and is essentially the game's story line. If you didn't get it, well you're in the wrong fanfic. So basically, Sirzechs uses it as a taunt to keep Yu in line. Like, when you boop a dog or something to get it to listen. That's a third time (as of this writing) that the failure of Izanagi rescuing his love is brought up. There is the initial story, the current situation between Yu and Marie, and the impending manipulations of Sirzechs.**

 **Which also brings up the Tarot card predictions from the first part. FYI, this isn't betrayal. Wait til you see it. It's gonna blow your mind. Though, if you squint carefully, you might be able to spot it in the earlier chapters, if you figured out what arc comes before this instance and what characters it involves.**

 **Woooooo. Persona! No but seriously, if you've read through all this, just know that you spoiled yourself and I am ashamed of you.**

 **I don't really care if you review this. :D**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm back baby. Playing way too much F/GO. And school. Longer AN on bottom as always. Please read it. Concerns future chapters and such.**

 **A/N 2.0: Fixed a minor plot hole that I forgot about cause I hadn't worked on this chapter all that much**

 **Read and Review :D**

Issei was nearly out of breath as he helped Asia pull herself over the last fence before they got to his backyard. Asia scrambled over, all the while trying to hold her dress close to her legs. It was difficult, but eventually she made it over. Issei let out a loud sigh.

"Holy crap, that guy is scary…" He mumbled to himself softly as Asia dusted herself off. Honestly, it was hard to think of Yu as anything but scary. In ten seconds, he had not only knocked out those four fallen angels, but erased their memory too! Issei couldn't even cast the most basic of fireballs. Not to mention that weird creature. Issei shuddered. If that was the power of a High-class Devil, no wonder Buchou was so adamant on making sure he was safe. He might as well have been a bacteria for that fight and it wouldn't have made a difference.

"Yeah, but, Issei's pretty brave!" Asia's voice piped up next to him. Issei looked at her in bewilderment.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Well, it didn't matter to you that Father Freed could have slaughtered you like a helpless baby sow. You still chose to help me." She said smiling reassuringly. Issei broke out in a cold sweat. _That_ crazy priest was that strong? Why the hell didn't Asia tell him?

"And even though those would have tortured you to death for being a devil, you still stood up to them! Because I was _your_ friend." She continued. Issei felt bile rise up in his throat. He was beginning to seriously reconsider this friendship that involved risking his body, mental health, and least of all, his life.

"And for that, I think Issei's brave." Asia finished happily. Issei smiled back abashed.

"R-Right, thanks Asia. Brave. Me. Hah." But he wasn't brave. He was just an idiot doing his best to help. Nothing much. Issei himself didn't even help much in the end, that was mainly Narukami-senpai's overpowered bullshit that saved him. Feeling someone grasp his hand shook him out of his depressing thoughts.

"I know that look Issei." Asia said scoldingly. Issei smiled back sheepishly.

"That obvious, huh?" He said simply. She nodded.

"You _are_ brave. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, especially not yourself." She encouraged him. Issei nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I was a little brave there. Freed's a pretty big creep." He started. Asia smiled at him, and motioned for him to continue.

"And Narukami-senpai's a scary guy too! He wanted me to commit seppuku, but I handled that perfectly fine!" He reassured himself. Asia looked at him oddly at this comment. He ignored it. That was a personal achievement, he thought to himself.

"And those fallen angels! So what if I couldn't beat them! I wouldn't let them hurt my friend!" He was nearly shouting now. It felt so good to let his feelings out. His worries, his frustrations. Most importantly, his insecurities. He turned to Asia, whose expression had shifted to one that spoke of tired acceptance, not that Issei had noticed. He hugged her.

"Thanks Asia. I really needed that." He really, really did.

"What's this about Fallen Angels?" A regal voice drifted from the back door of Issei's home.

 _Ah. Find me in the Alps._

A stray thought occurred to him. Buchou knew he was running because he couldn't fight the priest. How the hell was he gonna explain this without mentioning the silver haired senior?

 _Well..._

Issei let go of Asia, who sported a rather impressive blush. He laid a hand over hers.

"It was nice knowing you, Asia…" He said dejectedly.

 _Because Narukami-senpai's gonna fucking murder me._

/-/

"I feel the distinct need to punch a brown haired idiot. But I'm pretty sure that Yosuke hasn't done anything stupid… recently at least." Yu muttered to himself as he walked into his house. He hadn't even finished taking off his shoes before his phone rang. He pulled out his cellphone and looked at the caller-id.

"No information?" He hummed. No harm in answering.

"Hello, Yu Narukami speaking. Who is this?" He stated into the receiver as he finished his ritual and began walking upstairs to put away his kendo bag full of semi-questionable items.

" _Ah...Haha. It's Issei."_ Yu nodded. Though it didn't make much sense as to why he was calling. Unless…

"Hyoudou-san, I hope you have a date picked." He said calmly. It was pretty obvious to see why Issei would call.

" _A date? A date picked for what?"_ Came the frightened voice of his junior. Now to put the fear of Yu into his kohai. It wouldn't be the first time, Yu mused.

"For your funeral, of course. I hope you don't mind it being closed casket…" Yu paused for dramatic effect, " _Because there won't be much of a body left."_ Of course, the young Narukami wouldn't actually kill Issei. There were much more effective and subtle methods of revenge. Though, the constant screams of _"Too scary! Way too scary! Take the phone! TAKE THE PHONE!"_ were equally as satisfying. Hmm, Yu didn't know that men could even reach that pitch of squeal.

" _Calm down, Issei! Jeez, whatever you said to him, Yu-kun, really frightened him!"_ An elegant voice came through, one that Yu was not expecting.

"Rias?" He asked. He tried to hide some of his apprehension. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to confront her over the phone.

" _Un. Look, I just wanted to thank you personally. Issei told us how you let him hide from some gangsters that were prowling after him."_ Yu let out a breath of relief. At least his kouhai wasn't _that_ stupid. Obviously he fabricated some story that involved telling Rias a lie so that he wouldn't be involved in the magical aspect of Issei's little adventure.

"It wasn't a problem. The only other people on hand were the cleaning staff coming in later, so it didn't matter too much." He dismissed her thanks politely. Yu supposed he would have to rethink Issei's punishment.

" _So a love hotel manager, huh?"_ Or maybe not. In fact, Yu would redouble his efforts towards finding a more suitable punishment.

"I'm not having this conversation." He ended succinctly.

" _But you're having it right now."_ She quipped back. Of course she wouldn't let that go. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. How to get out of this… Oh! He snapped his fingers in realization, and let a predatory smirk spread across his face.

"Fine. Yes, I am the manager of a love hotel." He feigned defeat. He could hear Rias giggle on the other end of the receiver.

" _Is it nice?"_ Rias asked, obviously fishing for something.

"I wouldn't know, I'm not a deviant." He responded cutting off that avenue of attack.

" _Then I don't suppose I could get a tour sometime?"_ Yu scoffed to the side. But, it did set him up for the perfect comeback.

"Maybe when I'm off the clock?" He said as suavely as possible, pouring his charisma into the six words. There was a long pause, as, doubtlessly, Rias was trying to think of an appropriate comeback.

" _Alright, I surrender."_ Yu smirked in victory.

"Then could you please hand the phone to Issei?" He asked, mirth trailing into his voice.

" _Ah, but you've been on speaker phone for a while now."_ What?

" _Hello, Narukami-kun!"_ A teasing voice said. That sounded like Akeno, he noted.

"Ah. Well played, then." He conceded.

" _Thank you. But what did you want to say to Issei? He's right here with the rest of the Occult Research Club. What? No, I won't hang up. Why would I do that? What do you mean 'ultra-violence'?"_ Her voice went soft as she likely turned away to talk about whatever Issei was saying. Yu heard something along the lines of _"Get over here"_ before another voice took up the majority of the receiver.

" _H-H-Hey, Nar-r-rukami-s-senpai!"_ Issei's rattled voice came over the line. Yu thought to himself for a moment.

"Don't worry Hyoudou-san, I've already forgiven you." The silver haired teen lied flawlessly. He heard Issei let out a whoop of relief.

" _R-Really?"_ The brunette asked hopefully.

"No." Yu hung up.

/-/

"Our Father-ow- who art in heaven-ow- Hallowed be- ow- thy name- damn that hurts-" Rias watched as her pawn sat on his knees, hands held in prayer, chanting the most common of the holy church's lyrics. She honestly had no idea what was going on, and neither did anyone else. Though, that didn't stop Akeno from enjoying Issei's predicament. However, Asia was the most confused out of them all.

"They say that when a man reaches the end of his rope, he turns to religion. I had no idea that it would be so… sudden. Especially considering that Issei is a devil." The blonde haired girl said in wonderment as Issei then proceeded to chant the rites to Hail Mary. All the while complaining and cursing about the constant headache. Rias turned and examined the blonde haired nun. It was quick, and she couldn't see anything particularly important about her outside of the Sacred Gear she wielded.

"Wouldn't this be considered rather sacrilegious?" The only other male member of Rias's peerage chimed in. Kiba Yuuto had always been rather antagonistic towards the church, and Rias knew that his reason was just. But, it wasn't venom that filled his comment, rather a mirth at his fellow second year's attempts to garner mercy.

"Hyoudou-senpai is weird." Rias tried to bite down on the giggle that was threatening to escape her mouth. Of all her Peerage members, the white haired Nekoshou, Koneko Toujou, was the most brutal and blunt, and the most amusing as a result. Issei, hearing the comments from the peanut gallery, stopped his prayers.

"Oi, if you knew what I knew you blonde bastard, you'd be right here next to me!" And without skipping a beat, he was already praying and swearing once more. Kiba merely smiled anxiously, unsure as to how to respond.

"Oh, and what is it do you know?" Akeno asked teasingly, obviously intrigued by what could cause Issei such panic and misery. Rias sighed.

"You're letting your inner S show Akeno." The red head reminded her queen. She was duly ignored.

"Just know that Narukami-senpai is _not_ happy with me." He said shuddering. Rias raised an eyebrow at this explanation. Seriously, what did she miss?

"It was pretty obvious given his tone. What exactly did you do Hyoudou-kun?" The princely blonde asked. Issei paled considerably. Rias honestly thought he was going to become transparent.

"I've already said too much." Once again, Issei was lost in his own world of faith, regret, and migraines. Rias rubbed her temples at her own migraine that was beginning to form. Better to just deal with the easier of the two questions she had.

"Well, either way, we need to figure out what to do with the nun you've brought home, Issei." Rias said, her tone turning serious as Issei was dragged into the conversation. Issei's expression became grim as he remembered what exactly happened. His senior had only knocked them out and wiped their memory. Those four fallen angels were still hunting for him and Asia. Actually, speaking of hunting…

"Hey, Buchou, where are my parents?" Issei asked looking around his home.

"I hypnotized them." Issei nodded, that made sen-

"Wait, what?!" He exclaimed, as though mishearing what she said. Rias looked at Issei oddly. Oh, right, she remembered. He was still new to this whole situation.

"We couldn't risk them getting hurt. So I hypnotized them. They think their house is getting fumigated and are staying at a hotel my family owns. Nothing malicious." Rias explained. She watched as Issei deflated in relief, though the worried look on his face didn't dissipate. Ignoring it, Rias continued on.

"I think that for now, she should be placed in my care, so long as she doesn't object." Rias cowed whatever Asia was going to say with a light glare when Issei wasn't looking. It wasn't out of malevolence, but rather because she wanted to keep a closer eye on the nun. It would be rather risky, and stupid, to let not only a Sacred Gear user, but a holy one run free. Rias was not a stupid girl. Issei turned to Asia, expecting her to answer.

"I-I think it's fine. I still get to see Issei, right?" Rias nodded, while trying to figure out the angle that the blond haired girl was working. Her suspicion was one ingrained in her very blood. Holy and light magic were a death sentence to devils after all.

"Then, I accept." Well, that was one problem taken care of. Now onto the more important issue.

"I've already alerted the head of my brother's guard. Okita-san's already searching for those four fallen angels." Rias alerted her group. Kiba perked up at hearing the name of his swordsmanship teacher, and the Knight of Rias's brother. Issei took notice as well, once she mentioned the fallen angels.

"What's gonna happen to them, Buchou?" Issei asked with a conflicted expression.

"They will be captured and executed, after giving testimony to their actions, of course.." Both Issei and Asia let out gasps of surprise at her cold tone and dismissal. Rias furrowed her brow, already expecting this kind of resistance from the freshly turned devil.

"B-Buchou, that seems pretty harsh. Even if they k-killed people." Rias furrowed her brow. It was unfortunate that this would be her Pawn's first real introduction to the magical world.

"It isn't the fact that they killed that merits such a harsh punishment." Rias paused to think over exactly how she would present the next part. She faced him, to ensure her message came across clearly.

"Issei, the three factions, Devils, Angels, and Fallen, have been at war since our inception. It is only recently that a ceasefire was declared. Even then, I can personally confirm that the Devil faction is still preparing for when the war 'goes hot', even if it is unlikely." She explained.

"But that still doesn't mean they should be executed!" Asia interrupted. Issei nodded in agreement. Rias sighed.

"I didn't expect you to understand. How do you think it looks when a group of operatives from a previously hostile nation enter land that is definitively yours? Then, not only do they have the audacity to invade secretly, but to poach your resources while here. Finally, they launch a coordinated strike on people under your protection." Rias explained eloquently. Issei grimaced as memories of today were brought up. Especially the unfortunate fate of the contractor that summoned him at the start of this mess.

"What Rias is trying to say, Hyoudou-kun, is that this was an act of aggression that could respark the greatest war in existence. Their lives are the least that can be asked in reparation." Kiba said smoothly, simplifying Rias's explanation for his new comrade.

"I mean, I'm not really good with all this political stuff, but that's…" Issei trailed off, unable to formulate a proper response.

"If you could offer me a better solution, I would happily hear it." Rias shot back somewhat harsh. She now realized that it was best that he be acclimated quickly rather than slowly into devil culture, all things considered. Issei stared at her in bewilderment, a response on his lips, before he glanced away in deferment.

"Politics aside, I would happily leave them to my brother if what you said was true," Rias took a deep breath, "I know I should have warned you earlier but…" she started, trying to find a delicate way to phrase the next piece of information.

"Light magic can instantly vaporize devils weaker than the amount used. Down to their very soul." Akeno cut in abruptly. Issei startled. Asia did as well, which Rias immediately took note of.

"I-What?!" Rias simply nodded in response, affirming Akeno's statement.

"Poison." Koneko added. Issei stilled and stared at his underclassmen.

"You're joking right? There's no way something is that-" He started before growing solemn and remembering the earlier incident with the crazy priest. Kiba interrupted his train of thought.

"Light magic infests a devil's very core, destroying it from the inside-out. Without a magical core to sustain them, they fade away to nothing. Not even starting on the metaphysical and purification aspects of the holy, Light magic is the most powerful poison to devil kind. I would have told you earlier but I never thought…" Kiba continued, wracked with guilt. Rias watched as Issei choked down the realization that he had nearly gotten himself erased from existence. It was difficult.

"No, Kiba-kun, it was my own fault." Rias assumed full responsibility for this fiasco. She had _known_ there were Fallen Angels in play, and had done nothing, assuming her brother's guards would handle the rest. She would begin rectifying that mistake now.

"I understand now, that protecting you by removing you from the problem has been the wrong way to handle your particular circumstances. I hope you forgive me." Issei stared wide eyed at her before returning to his sheepish nature, shocking him out of his nearly catatonic stupor of horror.

"Yeah- I mean, no Buchou. You did what you thought was best, right? Then there's not much to be angry about, I guess." Issei placated not entirely sure how to respond. Rias could feel herself brighten immediately at his forgiveness.

"Very well then, from now on I'll teach you everything you need to know about being a devil and a servant of the Gremory clan." She dictated to him nobly. Issei nodded resolutely.

"And I'll learn everything you have to teach, Bucho-Gah!" Issei exclaimed, before being abruptly interrupted by a flash of blue flame from the other side of the room, which the rest of Rias's peerage watched with a bored gaze. Out from the flame walked a silver haired woman, dressed in a maid outfit. She was beautiful, much like every other devil Rias supposed, but she had her own cold beauty that was unmatched even among the paragons of femininity that represented Rias's peerage.

"Lady Rias, it is time. Lord Sirzechs Lucifer is already in the meeting and requests the presence of your peerage." She spoke in a monotone. Rias was time to face the music.

"W-W-Wait a minute, here! Did you just say Lucifer? The guy who is _literally_ the devil?" Issei said in a rushed panic once he got situated from being knocked on his ass by a buxom woman (which he would certainly take time to remember details about later). Rias watched as Grayfia raised a single delicate eyebrow.

"No. Sirzechs Lucifer is not _the_ Satan as mortals are wont to say." She stated.

"Oh thank-" Issei began.

"He is the strongest devil currently in existence and he is Lady Rias's older brother. The title Lucifer is one that denotes his position as the commander of all the Underworlds armies." Grayfia finished. Rias could almost see a wry grin on the maid's lips, but, that wasn't possible of someone so stoic as Grayfia Lucifuge was it?

"Oh. Oh good. What the FU-"

/-/

"And that's how it is Narukami-senpai." Issei groveled.

"That certainly escalated quickly." Yu remarked, taking in all that Issei had told him.

"Please, Narukami-senpai, do not make light of Buchou's situation!" Issei said seriously. Yu noted the seriousness in his junior's eyes. When he had first seen Issei jump through the door on the roof and perform several olympic diving maneuvers before landing in a perfect dogeza and sliding to Yu's feet, Yu had no words. To be honest, he still had no words. However, he did have an opinion of Rias's situation, now that he had been apprised of the full scope of it.

"Her virginity is at stake, Narukami-senpai! Surely you understand the gravity of this situation! Her breasts and body will belong to that stupid piece of Fried Chicken!" Though, that did not necessarily mean he had an _honest_ view of the situation. Yu sighed.

"Hyoudou, every word you say saps away my motivation in exponentially increasing amounts. Please stop talking before I become a NEET that will wish for nothing but the end to his own existence." Yu stated calmly before putting a popping a piece of steamed fish with some sauce into his mouth. Issei balked at the particular way Yu phrased his rebuttal.

"Ah, Narukami-senpai, that was a bit out of character, don't you think? I mean, that response was super mean…" Issei trailed off. Yu turned a stoned gaze towards his junior. He watched as Issei slowly paled under his stare.

"Ah hahahaha! What I really meant to say was that, this worthless waste of space wishes to express how accurate your description of myself was!" Yu nodded. Would this be considered cruel and unusual punishment? Probably. Though, he remembered something he read earlier about how such punishments generated irreparable psychological scars. It was probably the easiest way to break Issei of his obsession now that Yu thought about it. It was probably for the best. Probably.

"But please, Narukami-senpai, I need your help, and so does Buchou!" Issei exclaimed once more. Yu nodded, turning serious at the thought of Rias.

"Allow me to summarize then. Rias is in an arranged marriage with another high class devil who, in a spur of the moment decision, is trying to force her into an early completion of their family contracts. But, the stipulation of Rias's contract was that she would be allowed to challenge her betrothed at the end of their contract for the right to disregard the marriage. Which means she is now forced into a Rating Game, an all out battle between Peerages, years before she completed her own. And her parents, a noble Lord and lady, and her brother, the literal Lucifer, all agreed to this arrangement. All the while, this 'Riser Phenex' has completed his Peerage, which according to you, is full of women that he purports to have relations with, and are each reasonably strong pieces themselves." Issei nodded.

"Would you like to hear my opinion of this situation?" Yu questioned the sophomore kneeling next to him. Issei nodded hesitantly.

"Someone is being setup." Yu said coldly. Issei looked at him with a look of bewilderment.

"From what you saw, the Lucifer is a complete and utter siscon, and assuming your description is accurate, there is no way he couldn't leverage his power or his previous status as the heir to force the Phenex to break the marriage. He could even offer concessions that the Phenex could only get from his stature. Someone, is being setup." Yu explained.

"The only question is who the ploy is meant to draw out." Yu continued now that he finished his lunch. He wrapped up his box, the thoughts plaguing his mind. Obviously the one being drawn out had to have some sort of emotional connection to Rias, and be of some stature or power. A stray thought crossed Yu's mind. It wasn't possible, no one knew Yu existed in the supernatural word as far as he knew. No, it was likely to force some other suitor of Rias to come forth and fork over arm and leg to purchase the Phenex's side of the contract, and that Sirzechs was part of it. Assuming it wasn't a ploy by the Gremorys themselves.

"I-Wow. How did you get all that Narukami-senpai?" Issei asked, somewhat in awe at Yu's detective skills. Yu shrugged.

"My Uncle's a detective, and I used to do some detective work myself." He stated simply, only for Issei to raise a questioning brow.

"Aren't you a high-class devil Narukami-senpai?" Yu cursed inwardly. Of all the times for Hyoudou to get a sense of awareness. Yu thought about it for a moment before coming up with a cover story. He was already claiming the IT as his "Peerage" according to his previous insinuations.

"I call him Uncle. He's actually a non-magical relative of my father's Peerage." There, that should cover all bases, he thought to himself. Once again Issei nodded in understanding.

"That's pretty cool Narukami-senpai, but… what should we do about Buchou?" Yu already had his answer prepared.

"Nothing. I can't interfere directly. But, you can do something right?" Issei's eyes misted over in confusion before they sparked up in nodded once Issei turned his gaze to him, affirming the conclusion they both reached.

"That means you can train me to be super strong and pound Riser into a million pieces during the Rating Game!" Or, Issei completely misconstrued the situation. Yu was actually planning on coaching Issei to approach the Lucifer and ask him to postpone his ploy for the sake of his sister. This was… entirely out of left field, especially considering Issei's own report of his power level. But, Issei was already too hyped up to convince otherwise.

"Thanks a lot Narukami-senpai! I'll meet with you tomorrow to start my training. Woohoo! Buchou's body and virginity won't be taken from me yet!" The brown haired wannabe Harem King rushed off the roof whooping and hollering in his excitement. Yu simply stared after him, mourning the continued loss of his patience, and of his Golden Week vacation time. Giving himself a moment to recompose, he pulled out his cellphone and called a few numbers.

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 **A/N: Wooooooo. We're starting the first arc of this story. 40,000 odd words of introductory material and straight man comedy later. Since it's winter break for college, hopefully I can get the next chapter out sooner than half a year. Probably.**

 **Now, I got a lot of different reviews and attitudes for the sneak peek I showed. For good reason. Why else would I release that honestly. I have a plan for it. I also got a review that said Sirzechs was a total edgelord. Duh, this is Persona. If the guy you thought was evil wasn't edgy as fuck it'd really throw off the whole shtick. I mean, Adachi is a well written edgelord. Persona 1 and 2 (though i didn't play it) and 3 villain's are all fairly edgy but hold that slice of self redemption of humanity via plot sort of thing. One of them is a Lovecraft monster, and the ones for three are the greek goddess of night followed by a dog that is the culmination of human apathy and despair. Just trust me.**

 **Now what got achieved this chapter? Not a lot. This is what I would consider filler or the resolution of the introductory arc. Every overarching plot point I want to setup early has been setup. There aren't many, but most of it has to deal with deception to be honest, which [spoiler] will be resolved around the end of Kyoto arc. [end spoiler] Mostly, it's just to close off all the boring first book arcs without losing the character development I want (which still wasn't much). The rest of it is pretty much just some straight man comedy before it gets serious again. I also skipped the Riser scene. I had a serious version planned out originally, and Issei would get more development that way, but I felt it sorta shafted Yu this chapter. And it's a Yu story more than anything else.**

 **What do I have planned? [obvious spoilers] Issei's gonna get some serious development and proper powerups over the Golden Week arc. I'm also gonna develop a lot more about the Persona combat system and the way human magic works on the Persona side. Mainly cause I don't want the ensuing Riser fight to be something that is reliant on Ddraig. Always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I mean, it's proper shonen, but that seriously doesn't excuse what I consider formulaic writing. I am not above my deus ex machina's though. So, Hama is probably gonna be the focus of next chapter, and how it interacts.**

 **Read and Review :D**


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